Botrychium sensu stricto (s.s.), a group of ferns commonly called the moonworts, has a nearly worldwide distribution, although the center of species diversity is in the mountains of western North America.  Due to their relatively small size and simple morphology, species of Botrychium s.s. have been designated as “cryptic species”.  Thus, recognition and classification of moonwort species is challenging.  A phylogeny of moonworts constructed from DNA sequences of the plastid rbcL gene has already been established (Hauk, 1995).  However, this phylogeny contained 20 of the 23 currently recognized species in Botrychium s.s.. Thus, three species were not included.  The main goal of this research was to establish the evolutionary relationships among individual species by constructing a molecular phylogeny.   Using the plastid rbcL gene and the trnL-F spacer region, an attempt was made to obtain chloroplast DNA sequences of the three remaining species (Botrychium pallidum, Botrychium boreale, and Botrychium gallicomontanum) in order to add them to the molecular phylogeny thus completing it. Botrychium pallidum is a key diploid and is currently thought to be one progenitor of tetraploid Botrychium minganense based on morphological similarities.  Botrychium boreale and Botrychium gallicomontanum are putative tetraploids, and the identity of the chloroplast parents of these two species is unknown.  DNA sequences were not obtained due to PCR amplification problems. The chloroplast parent of each of these species and the placement of species on the phylogeny was not established.  Further research is necessary in order to create a more complete phylogeny of Botrychium s.s. species.