FLORA 



OF THE 



SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES 



SUBKINGDOM PTERIDOPHYTA. 1 FERNS AND FERN ALLIES. 

 Plants containing woody and vascular tissues. They produce spores 

 asexually, each of which, on germination, develops into a prothallium 

 (gametophyte). The prothallia bear the reproductive organs ; the female 

 organ is known as an archegone, the male as an antherid. As a result of 

 the fertilization of an egg in the archegone by a sperm produced in the 

 antherid, the asexual state of the plant is developed (sporophyte) ; this 

 phase is represented by a fern or an allied plant. 



Order 1. OPHIOGLOSSALES. 



Succulent plants, consisting of a stem and leaf growing from a fleshy root- 

 stock. Sporophyll in the form of a spike or panicle, the sporanges formed from 

 the interior tissues, naked, each opening at maturity by a transverse slit. Spores 

 yellow, of one sort. Prothallia subterranean, devoid of chlorophyll. 



FAMILY 1. OPHIOGLOSSACEAE Presl. ADDER' S-TONGUE FAMILY. 



Characters of the order. 



Veins reticulated : sporanges cohering in one or more distichous spikes. 



Terrestrial : spike single, long-stalked. 1. OPHIOGLOSSUM. 



Epiphytic on palmettos : spikes several, short-stalked. 2. CHEIROGLOSSA. 



Veins free : sporanges distinct, borne in spikes or panicles. 3. BOTEYCHIUM. 



1. OPHIOGLOSSUM L. 



Low terrestrial plants, with small rootstocks, and slender fleshy roots. Bud for the 

 following year formed at the side of the base of the stem. Leaf solitary, borne on the 

 stem : blade simple, entire. Sporophyll terminal, formed of two rows of large coalescent 

 sporanges. Veins reticulated. Spores sulphur-yellow. ADDER' S-TONGUE. 



Leaf-blades ovate or elliptic-oblong, 3-12 cm. long, with several equal or parallel veins at the base. 



Leaf-blades obtuse : areolae with few veinlets. 1. 0. vulgatum. 



Leaf-blades apiculate : areolae broad, with many veinlets. 2. 0. Engelmannii. 

 Leaf-blades cuneate or cordate at the base, with unequal veins at the base. 



Rootstocks slightly tuberous-thickened : leaf-blades lanceolate or ovate with 



a cuneate base. 3. 0. pusittum. 



Rootstocks globose : leaf-blades ovate with a cordate base. 4. 0. crotalophoroides. 



1. Ophioglossum vulgatum L. Eootstock oblique. Stem slender, 1-4 dm. tall, 

 simple, glabrous, bearing a leaf near its middle ; leaf-blade sessile, ovate or elliptic-oblong, 

 3-12 cm. long, rather tirm in texture, distinctly reticulated, with few veinlets within the 

 areolae ; basal veins 9-13 : spike solitary, 1-2.5 cm. long, erect apiculate. 



In moist meadows and thickets, Prince Edward Island to Alaska, south to Florida. Also in Europe 

 and Asia. May to August. 



1 Contributed by Prof. Lucien Marcus Underwood. 



