42 



OPHIOGLOSSACEAE. 



1. Ophioglossum. 



Fig. 17. — Ophioglossum 

 coriaceum. 



1. OPHIOGLOSSUM, L. 



(Greek ophis, a snake ; glossa, tongue : alluding to the 

 shape of the fruiting spike.) 



1. 0. coriaceum, A. Cunn. Adder's -tongue. Usually a 

 small plant, the barren and fertile leaves combined on a 

 common stem-like petiole ; blade of barren leaf rather 

 thick, ovate -lanceolate or oblong -lanceolate, acute, 3-5 

 cm. long, about 1^ cm. broad, midrib usually distinct ; 

 petiole of fertile leaf united to the barren leaf either above 

 or below the base of the blade ; fruiting spike linear, 15-25 

 mm. long, with 15-25 pairs of spore-cases ; spores finely 

 reticulate under microscope. — 0. vulgatum, Benth. non L. 



Throughout the State but not common. Very closely 

 allied to the European 0. lusitanicum, L. 



2. BOTRYCHIUM, Swartz. 



(Greek botrys, a cluster of grapes : alluding to the arrangement of the spore-cases.) 

 1. B. australe, R. Br. Barren leaves sheathing the fertile one by the base of the long 

 petiole, broadly triangular, twice or thrice pinnatisect with 3 broad pinnae, the secondary 

 pinnae lobed at the summit, pinnatisect lower down ; ultimate segments not so broad as 

 to overlap each other ; fertile leaf bearing globular spore -cases in 2 rows along its narrow 

 segments. — B. ternatum, Benth. not of Swartz. 



This species is only known in South Australia by a barren leaf collected in 1883 near 

 Clarendon (Mount Lofty Range), and preserved in the Tate Herbarium. 



Family 7— MARSILIACEAE. 



The embryonal (asexual) generation is heterosporous, i.e., the spores are of 2 kinds : 

 macrospores, also known as megaspores, producing female prothalli, and microspores, 

 producing male prothalli, both kinds of spore enclosed in separate spore-cases (macro- 

 sporangia and microsporangia), the former containing only 1 macrospore and the latter 

 containing numerous microspores. (All the preceding families of Filicales are homosporous, 

 i.e., the spores are of one kind, producing monoecious prothalli.) Fertile leaves shorter 

 than the barren ones, the lamina recurved and united at the margin, so as to form a 

 sporocarp containing sori enclosed in membranous indusia ; each sorus consisting of 

 macrosporangia and microsporangia ; barren leaves on long stalks ; perennial plants. 



Barren leaves of 4 leaflets Marsilia 1. 



Barren leaves filiform Pilttlaria 2. 



1. MARSILIA, L. 

 (After L. F. Marsigli, an Italian naturalist whose name was Latinised as Marsilius ; 



died 1730.) 

 Sporocarp ovoid, hard, compressed, opening in 2 valves ; barren leaves with a long 

 petiole and a lamina divided into 4 obovate leaflets ; rootstock creeping and rooting at 

 the nodes, usually in or near water. 

 A. Sporocarp stalked. 



B. Plant glabrous M. Brownii 1. 



B. Plant hairy. 



Fruit smooth M . Drummondii 2. 



Fruit furrowed M. elata 3. 



A. Sporocarp sessile or almost so M> hirsuta 4. 



1. M. Brownii, A. Br. Whole plant glabrous ; leaflets obovate, almost entire ; sporo- 

 carp?. usually in clusters of 2-4, their stalks united at base but almost free from the petiole 

 of the barren leaf. — M . quadrifolia, Benth. not of L. 



River Murray ; Flinders Range. 



2. M. Drummondii, A. Br. Nardoo. Leaflets silky-hairy or becoming glabrous with 

 age, obovate -cuneate, crenate, or entire, varying in size ; sporocarps 5-9 mm. long, hairy, 

 smooth, the stalks or petioles free at the base and 2-4 times as long as the sporocarps. 



River Murray and at least as far south as Bordertown ; throughout the Far North 

 and North-West. 



3. M. elata, var. crenata, A. Br. Leaves very woolly at base ; leaflets large, crenate, 

 silky ; sporocarps about 10 mm. long, hairy, irregularly furrowed, erect on a stalk up to 

 8 times as long as they. 



Near Marree. I have not been able to identify successfully with our specimens most 

 of the numerous species created by A. Braun, but this one appears to be well distinguished. 



