OPHIOGLOSSUM VULGATUM. ADDER’S-TONGUE.
OPHIOGLOSSUM vulgatum; spica caulina, fronde ovata obtusa, arete reticulata. Wittel.
OPHIOGLOSSUM vulgatum. Linn. Sp. P l.p . 1518. Huds. An g l.p . 449. L ig h t f Scot. p. 651.
With. Bot. A rr. cd. 4. vol. 5. p. 743. O cd. Fl. Dan. 1 .147. Moffin. Germ. cd. 2.
vol. 2. P. II. p. 14. -Smarts Syn. Filic. p. 169- Willd. Sp. PI. vol. 5. p. 58.
Mougcot et Nestler Stirp. Crypt. vol. 5. n. 502. Smith Fl. B rit. p. 1107. Engl.
Bot. t. 108. Decand. Fl. F r. ed. 3. vol. 2. n. 1438. Fl. Gall. Syn. p. 116. Aiton
Hort. K m . ed. 2. vol. 5. p. 495.
OPHIOGLOSSUM folio unicó, ovato-lanceolato obtuso. Hall. Helv. n. 1685.
OPHIOGLOSSUM. R a iiS y n .p . 128.
Dan. Slanjetunge. Dut. Speer kruid. Fr. l ’Herbe sans couture. Germ. Nattcrzünglcin. It. Lingua
di Serpe. Port. Lingua de Serpente. Span. Lingua de Sierpe. Swed. Ldketunga. Welsh. T qfody
ncidr cyffredin.
Class and Order. CRYPTOGAMIA FILICES.
[N atural Order. FILICES, Juss. Decand. Brown. D iv . Capsula annulo elastico destitutes.]
Gen . Char. Capsula nudæ in spicam articulatam disticham connatæ, uniloculares transverse déhiscentes bivalves.
Willd.
Radix e fibris plurimis carnosis fuscis simplicibus, per
paria oppositis, horizontal!ter extendentibus, flex-
uosis.
Scapus digitalis ad spithamæum, erectus, teres, flexuosus,
simplex, glaber.
Frons biuncialis, paulo supra medium scapi inserta,
solitaria, erecto-patens, sessilis, basi subamplexi-
caulis, ovata vel ovato-cordata, subcarnosa, obtusa,
integerrima, glabra, medio leviter canalicu-
lata, siccitate per totam superficie-m obscure reticulata.
Spica terminalis, lineari-lingulata, uncialis vel sesquiun-
cialis, erecta, compressa, medio utrinque cana-
liculata, primum viridis, margine torulosa, e cap-
sulis numerosis.
Capsulze circiter triginta, serie simplice margine utrinque
spicæ, longitudinaliter arete insertæ, atque
coadunatas, demum maturitate fuscas, transversim
déhiscentes, bivalves, seminibus repletæ.
Semina numerosa in globum conges ta, minutissima,
ovato-rotundata, fusco-flavescentia.
Root consisting o f many fleshy brown simple fibres, opposite
in pairs, extending themselves horizontally
and flexuose.
SCAPE.from a finger’s length to a span in height, erect,
round, flexuose, simple, smooth.
Frond about two inches tall, inserted a little above the
middle of the scape, solitary, erecto-patent, sessile,
at the base somewhat amplexicaul, ovate, or
between ovate and heart-shaped, somewhat car-
nose, obtuse, entire, smooth, slightly channelled
down the middle, when dry obscurely reticulated
on the whole surface.
Spike terminal, linear-lingulate, an inch or an inch and
a half long, erect, compressed, channelled on
each side down the middle, at first green, having
the margin torulose with numerous capsules.
Capsules about thirty, in a simple series in the margin
on each side of the spike, closely and longitudinally
inserted and united; at length when ripe
brown, transversely opening, two-valved, filled
with seeds.
SeEds numerous collected into a bulb, very minute, between
ovate and round, brownish yellow.
Fig. 1. Vertical section of an unripe spike of fructification. Fig. 2. Ripe spike, not. size. Fig. 3. Portion of the
same, showing the opening o f the capsule. .Fig. 4. Cluster of seeds. Mg. 5. Seeds.—all b u t ^ . 2. more or less
magnified.
Ophioglossum vulgatum is met with not very unfrequently in old pasture lands and woods in various parts of
the kingdom. The plants here figured were sent by my friend Charles Lyell, Esq. from a similar situation in the
vicinity of his seat a t Bartley, Hampshire, where the roots are deeply imbedded in a stiff clayey soil. This gentleman
directed my attention to the offset for next year’s stem, sheathed with a scale, and applied to the base of
the one for the present year; also to the succession of pairs of horizontal radicles at the base of the present stem,
alternating with each other, and each indicating the production of a year by a portion of caudex; so that, as Mr.
Lyell justly observes, the perennial herbaceous plant increases in height, and its age may be exactly ascertained,
by the successive additions of caudices.
A section of the spike of fructification, in an early state, shows how entirely the capsules are incorporated one
with another, forming one entire mass, in which are situated the spherical cells or receptacles of the seeds.
This is the only species of the genus which England possesses, and a very remarkable and singular-looking one.
it is. The reticulation of the frond, observed by Willdenow, is only visible in the dried specimen.
A variety has been found with the spike branched.
79