OPHIOGLOSSUM. 



27 



Tropical America, from Cuba to Peru and South Brazil ; in Polynesia, the 

 Malayan and the Philippine Islands ; in the East Indies as far north as the 

 Himalayas, on the Guinea Coast, in Zambesi Land, in Cape Colony, &c. Its 

 fronds, 6in. to 12in. long, of a thin texture, with distinct veins and usually 

 no midrib, have their barren division placed near the middle ; this portion, 

 which shows distinctly heart-shaped 

 lobes at its base, is blunt or nearly 

 so at its summit, and measures 2m. 

 to oin. in length and ljin. to 2in. 

 in breadth. The fertile spike, lin. or 

 more in length and borne on a 

 slender peduncle 2in. to 4in. long, 

 much overtops the barren portion 

 of the frond. — Hooker and Greville, 

 Icones FiBcuni, t. 20. Nicholson, 

 Dictionary of Gardening, ii., p. 500. 

 Beddome, Ferns of Southern India, 

 t. 70. 



O. tuberosum — tu-ber-o'-sum 

 (tuberous). Synonymous 

 with 0.. bidbosum. 



O. YUlgatum — vul-ga'-tum 

 (common), Linnceus. 

 This, the common Adder's- 

 tongue (Fig. 8), has a most extensive 

 habitat, for while it is a well-known 

 British Fern, it also occurs from 

 Lapland to Japan and the Hima- 

 layas ; in the Azores, on the Guinea 

 Coast, in St. Helena, Cape Colony, Australia, New Zealand, Temperate North 

 America, &c. Eaton, in " Ferns of North America," says, " The common 

 Adder's -tongue is commonest in low meadows, but sometimes found also on 

 dry hill- sides, from Canada and New England to Texas and Arizona • also 

 in Alaska, Europe, Western Asia, Madeira, and the Azores." 



Fig. 8. Ophioglossum vulgatum, showing Creeping Rhizome 

 and Barren and Fertile Fronds 



(J nat. size). 



