Botrychium pumicola is a moonwort, endemic to central Oregon. It occurs in alpine and montane habitats that are typically sparsely vegetated raw pumice and pumice-rich soils. Like many species of the subgenus Botrychium, it is considered rare. Species of Botrychium reporduce by spores that form subterranean gametophytes and a few, like B. pumicola, also reproduce asexually with subterranean sporophytic gemmae. Isozyme analyses of other species of Botrychium have failed to find significant levels of variation within a species and suggest that inbreeding is common. The goal of our study is to examine the genetic diversity of B. pumicola populations and to better understand the role of gemmae in asexual reproduction. We are using the technique inter simple sequence repeats (ISSR) PCR to identify DNA polymorphisms. Ninety nine individuals from three monitored populations have been sampled. Fifteen polymorphic loci have been identified. Twenty nine of the sampled individuals were growing adjacently in groups of two or more plants. Because of their direct proximity these plants are expected to have more shared polymorphic bands either because of asexual reproduction or shared parent/parents. Of the fourteen potential clones, eleven are identical in alleles or share more alleles with each other than with any other members of the populations.

Key words: Botrychium pumicola ISSR Ophioglossaceae