Pteridophytes (Spore Producing Plants: Ferns and More) • Earth.com

Ophioglossum vulgatum africanum

(Ophioglossum vulgatum africanum)

galery
en

Description

Adders-tongues are so-called because the spore-bearing stalk is thought to resemble a snake's tongue. Each plant typically sends up a small, undivided leaf blade with netted venation, and the spore stalk forks from the leaf stalk, terminating in sporangia which are partially concealed within a structure with slitted sides.When the leaf blade is present, there is not always a spore stalk present, and the plants do not always send up a leaf, sometimes going for a year to a period of years living only under the soil, nourished by association with soil fungi.The plant grows from a central, budding, fleshy structure with fleshy, radiating roots.

Taxonomic tree:

Domain:
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum:
Class: Psilotopsida
Order:Ophioglossales
Family:Ophioglossaceae
Genus:Ophioglossum
News coming your way
The biggest news about our planet delivered to you each day