The Ophioglossaceae

The Adder's Tongue Ferns

Botrychium minganensespp.	Botrychium echospp.

The Ophioglossaceae are a family with nearly worldwide distribution. The family contains 9 genera and 70-120 species. The Ophioglossaceae are one of two extant eusporangiate fern families and apparently have no close affinities to other ferns. Recent molecular evidence (Pryer et al., 2001) demonstrates that Ophioglossaceae and Psilotaceae are sister groups.

Click here for a distribution map of the Ophioglossaceae in the U.S.A.

Vegetative Characters | Reproductive Characters | Diagnostic Characters | Economic Importance/Fun Facts | Evolutionary Adaptations and Relationships | Glossary of Terms | References and Links | Pictures

Vegetative Characters

• a single frond produced above ground per year
• frond divided into fertile and sterile segments
• sterile segment may be simple and entire, or highly dissected to compound
• roots with mycorrhizal associations
• fronds lack circinate vernation and sclerenchyma

Reproductive Characters

• fertile segment bearing many sporangia
• sporangia are eusporangiate in structure
• thousands of spores produced per sporangium
• gametophytes are underground, non-photosynthetic, and mycorrhizal

Diagnostic Characters

• the division of the frond into fertile and sterile segments
• eusporangia

Economic Importance/Fun Facts

• they are the most facinating of all extant plants
• some species are epiphytic
• Dr. Hauk did his Ph.D. research on them

Evolutionary Adaptations and Relationships

• Order Ophioglossales
• clearly monophyletic
• within family relationships determined by rbcL, trnL-F, and morphological data (Hauk, Parks, and Chase, manuscript submitted).

Glossary of Terms

• mycorrhizae - a symbiotic relationship between a plant root and a soil fungus
• eusporangia - a thick walled, large sprangium that produces thousands of spores
• gametophyte - the haploid stage in alternation of generations
• epiphyte - a plant that lives on another plant (not a parasite)
• circinate vernation - the coiling associated with young fern leaves
• sclerenchyma - tough, support tissues with evenly thickened secondary walls

References and Links

• PRYER, K. M., H. SCHNEIDER, A. R. SMITH, R. CRANFILL, P. G. WOLF, J. S. HUNT, and S. D. SIPES. 2001a. Horsetails and ferns are a monophyletic group and the closest living relatives to seed plants. Nature 409: 618-622.
• Judd et al., 1999. Plant Systematics: a phylogenetic approach. Sinauer Associates, Inc. Sunderland, MA U.S.A.

Pictures

Ophioderma pendulaspp.	Cheiroglossa palmataspp.

spp.	spp.

For questions or feedback, contact: Warren Hauk