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: GRAPE-FERN Habit: Roots smooth or cork-ridged, dark gray, without bulblets or plantlets. Leaf: evergreen for 1 year; bud hairy; sporophore and trophophore joined near or at ground level; trophophore generally 2--3-pinnate, deltate to ternately triangular, fleshy, leathery, ultimate segments midribbed, veins free, forked; sporophore 1--3-pinnate, aborted in young pls. Sporangia: not sunken in axis; stalk 0 or short. Etymology: (Greek: scepter, staff, from tall upright sporophore) eFlora Treatment Author: Donald R. Farrar
Sceptridium multifidum (S.G. Gmel.) M. Nishida ex Tagawa
NATIVE Habit: Plant often robust, fleshy; roots 5 mm thick (1 cm from base), encircled by coarse, +- black, corky ridges. Leaf: bud densely hairy; trophophore stalk generally < blade, blade thick, leathery, generally +- 2--3-pinnate, < 35 cm wide, ultimate segments ovate, margins entire to shallowly crenate; sporophore stalk long, 2--3-pinnate. Chromosomes: 2n=90. Ecology: Common. Wet meadows, edges of lakes and streams, among willows; Elevation: < 2900 m. Bioregional Distribution: NW, CaRH, SNH, CCo, SnFrB, Wrn; Distribution Outside California: to Alaska, eastern North America, Europe. Synonyms: Botrychium multifidum (S.G. Gmel.) Rupr.; Botrychium multifidum subsp. californicum (Underw.) R.T. Clausen; Botrychium multifidum subsp. coulteri (Underw.) R.T. Clausen; Botrychium multifidum subsp. silaifolium (C. Presl) R.T. Clausen; Botrychium californicum Underw.; Botrychium coulteri Underw.; Botrychium silaifolium C. Presl Jepson eFlora Author: Donald R. Farrar Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange) Previous taxon: Sceptridium Next taxon: Polypodiaceae
Botanical illustration including Sceptridium multifidum
Citation for this treatment: Donald R. Farrar 2012, Sceptridium multifidum, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=91688, accessed on December 13, 2024.
Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2024, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on December 13, 2024.
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Duplicates counted once; synonyms included.
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