Aquatic and Wetland Vascular Plants of the Northern Great Plains

3. Ophioglossaceae, the Adder's-tongue Family

1. Ophioglossum L. -- Adder's tongue

1. Ophioglossum vulgatum L.

Small, erect, herbaceous perennial, (0.5)1-3 dm tall, from slender rhizomes. Leaves mostly solitary or paired, simple, entire, each blade borne on a stipe 3-15 cm long, the blades erect to ascending, elliptic to ovate, rounded to acute at the tip, 2.5-10 cm long, 1-4 cm wide, conspicuously net-veined. Sporangia homosporous, continuous in 2 rows in a terminal, unbranched spike, the spike 1-4 cm long, subtended by the leaf blade and borne above it on a stalk 3-15 cm long; spores single, with triradiate markings. Gametophyte small, subterranean, mycorhizal. Jun--Aug. Sandy wet meadows; rare; se ND, nc NE; (Circumboreal in temperate zones, in N.Amer. from N.S. to WA and irregularly scattered s to FL and Mex.).

Our plants belong to the northern var. pseudopodum (Blake) Farw.

Reference:

Barker, W. T. and J. Hanson.  1976.  A record of Ophioglossum vulgatum 	L.
     for North Dakota.  Amer. Fern J. 66:137.


Ophioglossum vulgatum.

Return to Family -- Ophioglossaceae - The Adder's-tongue Family