12 . 
THE LITTLE ADDERS-TONGUE. 
Ophioglossum lusitauicum. 
Plate 5 , Fig. 6 , Page 225 . 
This little plant is a very diminutive relation of the common 
Adders-tongne. Like it, it grows amongst grassy roots, 
upon which, according to a well-received belief, it feeds, 
something after the manner of a parasite. 
Desceiption. — The root, rootlets, stem and frond of 
Ophioglossum lusitauicum, so much resemble a dwarfed form 
of the common Adders-tongue, that by some persons it has 
been considered merely a stunted variety of that Fern. It 
may fairly claim, however, the dignity of a separate species. 
It grows to a height of from two to four inches— root, stem, 
barren leaf, and fruitful spike, following just the same 
arrangement as in Ophioglossum vulgatum. But the barren 
leaf — sometimes there are two — is narrower and more pointed 
than in the latter, being seldom much more than an inch 
long, and the eighth of an inch broad. It is broadest at the 
centre, and tapers at both ends. The fruit spike is also 
much smaller than in Vulgatum, seldom containing more 
than five or six spore cases on each side of the spike. 
Disteibution. — In Europe this plant ranges over Dalmatia, 
France, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Sicily, and Spain. It is 
found along the shores of the Mediterranean ; in the islands 
of the Atlantic ; and also on some of the African coasts, being 
found in particular in Algiers, at Tangier, in the island of 
