OPHIOGLOSSACEAE. 



VOL. I. 



i. Ophioglossum vulgatum L. 

 Adder's-tongue. Fig. i. 



Ophioglossum vulgatum L. Sp. PI. 1062. 1753. 



Rootstock short, oblique or erect; leaves usually soli- 

 tary, 3'-i6' long, the common stalk usually one-half or 

 more above ground and constituting one-third to two-- 

 thirds the length of the plant; sterile blade lanceolate, 

 oblanceolate or spatulate, elliptical, oblong or ovate, i'-s' 

 long, i'-2' broad, sessile, obtuse or acutish, the middle 

 areoles long and narrow, the outer ones shorter and 

 hexagonal, with included veins ; sporophyl I '-2' long, 

 borne on a stalk 4'-io' long, solitary, apiculate from 

 the prolongation of the axis. 



In moist meadows and boggy thickets, Prince Edward 

 Island to Ontario, south to Florida. Also in Europe and 

 Asia. The genus is also called Adder's-fern or -spear. 

 Snake's-tongue. Serpent's-tongue. May-Aug. 



2. Ophioglossum Engelmanni Prantl. Engelmann's 

 Adder's-tongue. Fig. 2. 



Ophioglossum Engelmanni Prantl, Ber. Deuts. Bot. Ges. i : 351. 

 1883. 



Rootstock cylindric, with long brown roots ; leaves com- 

 monly 2-5, mostly fertile, 3'-o/ long, the common stalk often 

 mostly below the ground and usually sheathed by the more or 

 less persistent bases of old leaves; sterile blade elliptic or 

 rarely ovate, i'-3i' long, $'-2' broad, sessile, usually acute, 

 apiculate, with wide oblique areoles containing numerous 

 anastomosing or free veins; sporophyl 6"-i2" long borne on 

 a stalk i '-4' long, apiculate; sporanges 12-27 pairs. 



In damp, sterile places or on rocks in cedar woods, mainly in 

 the Central States, from Indiana and Virginia to Louisiana, Texas 

 and Arizona. April-Qct. 



3. Ophioglossum arenarium E. G. Britton. Sand 

 Adder's-tongue. Fig. 3. 



O. arenarium E. G. Britton, Bull. Torr. Club, 24 : 555. pi. 318. 

 1897. 



Rootstock slightly thickened, with numerous fleshy, spread- 

 ing (sometimes proliferous?) roots; leaves slender but rigidly 

 erect, single or often in pairs, mostly fertile, z'-j' long, the 

 common stalk one-half its length below ground and consti- 

 tuting one-third or less the length of the plant; sterile blade 

 lanceolate, with a long tapering base, or somewhat elliptic, 

 i '-2' long, 3"-6" broad, acutish or somewhat apiculate, with 

 long, narrow areoles with a few indistinct included veinlets, 

 the outer areoles shorter; sporophyl 6"-i3" long, borne on a 

 slender stalk 2.'-$.' long, apiculate; sporanges 12-26 pairs. 



Gregarious in a colony of many plants in sandy ground under 

 trees at Holly Beach, New Jersey, the type locality. Also in 

 New York and New Hampshire. July. 



2. BOTRYCHIUM Sw. Schrad. Journ. Bot. i8oo 2 : 8. 1801. 



Fleshy terrestrial plants, with stout erect rootstocks, bearing clustered, fleshy, often corru- 

 gated roots and i or sometimes 2 or 3 erect leaves, these consisting of a short cylindric wholly 

 or partially hypogean common stalk, bearing at its summit a simple i-3-pinnately compound 



