Common Name: ADDER'S-TONGUE FAMILY Habit: Perennial herb, small, fleshy, generally glabrous; caudex generally underground, unbranched; roots glabrous with bulblets or plantlets or not. Leaf: generally 1 per caudex per year, divided into 2 facing parts with a common stalk,(0)1 sterile and 1(2) fertile (fertile occasionally aborted); sterile photosynthetic part (trophophore) separated from spore-bearing part (sporophore) at to well above ground level; trophophore simple to compound, veins free and forked or netted with included veinlets; sporophore simple to compound, or 0 in young pls. Sporangia: dehiscent into 2 valves, +- 1 mm wide, thick-walled. Genera In Family: 10 genera, 80--100 species: +- worldwide, generally rare or overlooked. Note: Distantly related to most (leptosporangiate) ferns. Haploid (gametophyte) generation underground. Both diploid and haploid generations obligately mycorrhizal. The family Psilotaceae (whisk ferns, 2 genera), sister to Ophioglossaceae, is represented in California (SCo) by 1 (of 2 total) apparently introduced species, Psilotum nudum (L.) P. Beauv. Psilotum is easily distinguished by the dichotomously branching, almost leafless green stems, lack of roots, and large (2--3 mm) 3-lobed sporangia; sporangia are borne on the adaxial (upper) side of a minute (+- 1 mm) forked leaf. Pantrop, subtrop (nearest native populations in Arizona and in Sonora, Mexico); expected in cultivation areas, especially at bases of old palms, possibly brought in on root masses as subterranean gametophytes. [Pryer et al. 2004 Amer J Bot 91:1582--1598]. eFlora Treatment Author: Donald R. Farrar, except as noted Scientific Editor: Alan R. Smith, Bruce G. Baldwin, Thomas J. Rosatti.
Common Name: ADDER'S-TONGUE Habit: Roots smooth, pale, generally with bulblets or plantlets. Leaf: trophophore simple, linear to lanceolate or cordate, not midribbed, entire, firm, herbaceous, tip rounded, acuminate, or often mucronate, veins netted with included free branched or unbranched veinlets; sporophore generally > sterile, unbranched, slender. Sporangia: in 2 rows, sunken in a linear, long-stalked axis. Etymology: (Greek: snake's tongue, from extended sporophore of leaf) Note: Incl highest chromosome numbers known in vascular pls. eFlora Treatment Author: Alan R. Smith
Ophioglossum californicum Prantl
NATIVE Habit: Caudex < 20 mm, 4 mm wide. Leaf: blade generally +- folded, thick, green, sporophore 1--2.5 × sterile. Sporangia: 8--15 pairs; rows of sporangia 8--15 mm; sterile tip of fertile stalk 0.3--1 mm. Ecology: Uncommon but sometimes locally abundant, often overlooked. Grassy pastures, chaparral, vernal pool margins; Elevation: 60--450 m. Bioregional Distribution: n&c SNF, GV, CCo, SCo, sw PR; Distribution Outside California: Mexico. Note: Emerges in early spring during rainy periods; probably under-collected. Synonyms: Ophioglossum lusitanicum L. subsp. californicum (Prantl) R.T. Clausen Jepson eFlora Author: Alan R. Smith Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange) Listed on CNPS Rare Plant Inventory Previous taxon: Ophioglossum Next taxon: Ophioglossum pusillum
Botanical illustration including Ophioglossum californicum
Citation for this treatment: Alan R. Smith 2012, Ophioglossum californicum, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=35155, accessed on April 16, 2024.
Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2024, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on April 16, 2024.
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(Note: any qualifiers in the taxon distribution description, such as 'northern', 'southern', 'adjacent' etc., are not reflected in the map above, and in some cases indication of a taxon in a subdivision is based on a single collection or author-verified occurence).
Data provided by the participants of the
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CCH collections by month
Duplicates counted once; synonyms included.
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