THE BRITISH FERNS. 
THE DWARF ADDER'S TONGUE. 
OPHIOGLOSSUM LUSITANICUM. 
O. fronds small, solitary, or two or three from each crown ; barren 
branch linear or linear-lanceolate, fleshy; fertile branch linear- 
oblong apiculate, its stalk thickened upwards. [Plate CXIV.] 

EEP E re e ne - 
=> 
OPHIOGLOSSUM LUSITANICUM, Linneus, Sp. Plant. 1518. Moore, Pop. Hist. 
Brit. Ferns, 2 ed. 195, t. 22, fig. 8 ; Id., Ferns of Gt. Brit. Nature Printed, 
t. 51 C ; Id., Handb. Brit. Ferns, 3 ed. 278. Newman, Hist. Brit. Ferns, 
3 ed. 331. Sowerby, Ferns of Gt. Brit. 82, t. 47. Babington, Man. Brit. 
Bot. 4 ed. 499. Swartz, Syn. Fil. 169. Willdenow, Sp. Plant. v. 59. 
Sprengel, Syst. Veg. iv. 92. Presl, Supp. Tent. Pterid. 50. Hooker & 
Greville, Icon. Fil. t. 80. Lindley, Veg. King. 2 ed. 77 (figure). Nyman, 
Syllog. Fl. Europ. 435. Lowe, Nat. Hist. Ferns, vii. t. 65 B. 
OPHIOGLOSSUM VULGATUM, B. LUSITANICUM, Hooker & Arnott, Brit. Fl. 7 ed. 
593. Bentham, Handb. Brit. Fl. 624. 
OPHIOGLOSSUM ANGUSTIFOLIUM MINIMUM, Barrelier, Icon. t. 252, fig. 2. 

Caudex or Corm-like Crown forming a thickened, oblong-fusiform 
blunt descending axis (rhizome, Presi), the terminal bud or growing 
point conical, and enclosed by a few brown membranaceous sheaths. 
Roots coarse, brittle, fleshy, spreading or descending, unbranched, 
growing irregularly from the axis; one or more of these becoming 
elongated, and producing a new growing point or crown. 
Vernation plicate or folded straight. 
Stipes erect, smooth, cylindrical, succulent, one-third to one-half 
the height of the frond, furnished with two or three slender vascular 
bundles, divided into a separate fertile and barren branch, the base 
enclosed by membranaceous sheathing scales, which are taper- 
pointed above, dilated below. 
Fronds from one to three inches high, thick and fleshy or succulent 
in texture, of a pale-green colour. Sterile radical fronds (commonly 
but not always accompanying the branched fertile fronds) linear- 
lanceolate, smooth, tapering below into the stalk or stipes. Sterile 

