Ophioglossum pycnostichum (Fernald) Á. Löve & D. Löve

Southern Adder's Tongue; Common Adder's Tongue

Herb

Perennial

Vascular

Southern Adder's Tongue is a native fern in the Adder's-Tongue family (Ophioglossaceae). It can be found in central and northern Alabama. Southern Adder's Tongue occurs in shady woodlands, on hardwood forested slopes, and in floodplain forests. It is a perennial with a short erect rhizome. The plant produces a single photosynthetic leaf (the trophophore) and fertile modified leaf (sporophore) on a common stem. The leaves are produced in the late spring and usually die down by mid-summer. The blade of the trophophore is subcordate to ovate in outline, shiny green in color, and glabrous. The sporophore is cylindrical, unbranched, with the sporangia in 2 rows and deeply sunken in the fleshy upper portion. Plants reproduce by spores. The gametophytes are subterranean and have a symbiotic relationship with fungi. This species is very similar to O. vulgatum of Europe. It is sometimes lumped into that species or treated as a variety of it (Ophioglossum vulgatum var. pycnostichum). This species is probably more common than records suggest. It is small and easily overlooked among other vegetation.--A. Diamond

This taxon is very close to O. vulgatum in Europe of which it has been lumped with or recognized as a variety, Ophioglossum vulgatum var. pycnostichum.

Native

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