Ophioglossum

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Ophioglossum
Ophioglossum closeup.jpg
Ophioglossum vulgatum
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Division: Polypodiophyta
Class: Polypodiopsida
Order: Ophioglossales
Family: Ophioglossaceae
Subfamily: Ophioglossoideae
Genus: Ophioglossum
L. [1]
Type species
Ophioglossum vulgatum
L.
Species

See text

Synonyms [2]
  • CassiopterisH.Karst.
  • GoswamiaZhang & Zhang
  • HaukiaZhang & Zhang
  • RhizoglossumPresl non Kylin
  • WhittieriaZhang & Zhang

Ophioglossum, the adder's-tongue ferns, is a genus of about 50 species of ferns in the family Ophioglossaceae. The name Ophioglossum comes from the Greek meaning "snake-tongue". [3] Their cosmopolitan distribution is mainly in tropical and subtropical habitats. [3]

Contents

The genus has the largest number of chromosomes in the known plant kingdom, but contrary to popular belief does not have the largest number of chromosomes out of all known organisms, falling short to the protist Sterkiella histriomuscorum .

Description

Adders-tongues are so-called because the spore-bearing stalk is thought to resemble a snake's tongue. Each plant typically sends up a small, undivided leaf blade with netted venation, and the spore stalk forks from the leaf stalk, terminating in sporangia which are partially concealed within a structure with slit sides. [3]

When the leaf blade is present, there is not always a spore stalk present, and the plants do not always send up a leaf, sometimes going for a year to a period of years living only under the soil, nourished by association with soil fungi.

The plant grows from a central, budding, fleshy structure with fleshy, radiating roots.

Taxonomy

Ophioglossum has a high chromosome count in comparison to other species, with 120 or up to 720 chromosomes possible in intervals of 120 due to polyploidy (multiple possible copies of chromosomes). It has almost 1260 number of chromosomes in the meiocyte (spore mother cell) which undergo meiosis, the reduction division to form the spore with only one set of chromosomes getting incorporated into each spore. [4]

Phylogeny

Phylogeny of Ophioglossum [5] [6]

Ophioglossum
Ophioglossum

O. polyphyllum

section Aitchisonii
Whittieria

O. engelmannii

Goswamia

O. nudicaule

O. rubellum

O. trilokinathii

O. gomezianum

O. costatum

O. eliminatum

Haukia

O. crotalophoroides

Ophioglossum s.s.
(Kawamurae)

O. parvifolium

O. kawamurae

O. parvum

(Ophioglossum)

O. pusillum

O. austroasiaticum

O. namegatae

O. lancifolium

O. petiolatum

O. coriaceum

O. reticulatum

O. thermale

O. gramineum

O. californicum

O. vulgatum

s.l.

Species

As of December 2021, World Ferns listed the following species: [2]

Species that may be placed in this genus include: [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ophioglossaceae</span> Family of ferns

Ophioglossaceae, the adder's-tongue family, is a small family of ferns. In the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016, it is the only family in the order Ophioglossales, which together with the Psilotales is placed in the subclass Ophioglossidae. The Ophioglossidae are one of the groups traditionally known as eusporangiate ferns. Members of the family differ from other ferns in a number of ways. Many have only a single fleshy leaf at a time. Their gametophytes are subterranean and rely on fungi for energy.

<i>Lygodium</i> Genus of ferns

Lygodium is a genus of about 40 species of ferns, native to tropical regions across the world, with a few temperate species in eastern Asia and eastern North America. It is the sole genus in the family Lygodiaceae in the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016. Alternatively, the genus may be placed as the only genus in the subfamily Lygodioideae of a more broadly defined family Schizaeaceae, the family placement used in Plants of the World Online as of November 2019.

<i>Sceptridium</i> Genus of ferns

Sceptridium is a genus of seedless vascular plants in the family Ophioglossaceae, closely allied to the genus Botrychium. It is also closely related to the genus Botrypus. Sceptridium species are commonly called the grape-ferns.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dryopteridaceae</span> Family of ferns

The Dryopteridaceae are a family of leptosporangiate ferns in the order Polypodiales. They are known colloquially as the wood ferns. In the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016 (PPG I), the family is placed in the suborder Polypodiineae. Alternatively, it may be treated as the subfamily Dryopteridoideae of a very broadly defined family Polypodiaceae sensu lato.

<i>Ophioderma</i> (plant) Genus of ferns

The genus Ophioderma are distinctive ferns in the family Ophioglossaceae. Ophioderma is closely related to, and sometimes treated as a subgenus of, the genus Ophioglossum. It includes the genus formerly known as Cheiroglossa. Recent genetic analysis has indicated that the two genera should be treated as one, and Ophioderma has precedence by being validly published at an earlier date. The type species is Ophioderma pendulum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pteridophyte</span> Group of plants that reproduce by spores

A pteridophyte is a vascular plant that disperses spores. Because pteridophytes produce neither flowers nor seeds, they are sometimes referred to as "cryptogams", meaning that their means of reproduction is hidden.

<i>Diphasiastrum</i> Genus of vascular plants in the clubmoss family Lycopodiaceae

Diphasiastrum is a genus of clubmosses in the plant family Lycopodiaceae. In the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016, it is placed in the subfamily Lycopodioideae. It is closely related to the genus Lycopodium, and some botanists treat it within a broad view of that genus as a section, Lycopodium sect. Complanata. Some species superficially resemble diminutive gymnosperms and have been given common names such as ground-pine or ground-cedar.

<i>Ophioglossum azoricum</i> Species of fern in the family Ophioglossaceae

Ophioglossum azoricum, the small adder's-tongue fern or lesser adder's-tongue fern, is a small fern of the family Ophioglossaceae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hymenophyllaceae</span> Family of ferns

The Hymenophyllaceae, the filmy ferns and bristle ferns, are a family of two to nine genera and about 650 known species of ferns, with a subcosmopolitan distribution, but generally restricted to very damp places or to locations where they are wetted by spray from waterfalls or springs. A recent fossil find shows that ferns of Hymenophyllaceae have existed since at least the Upper Triassic.

<i>Trichomanes</i> Genus of ferns

Trichomanes is a genus of ferns in the family Hymenophyllaceae, termed bristle ferns. The circumscription of the genus is disputed. All ferns in the genus are filmy ferns, with leaf tissue typically 2 cells thick. This thinness generally necessitates a permanently humid habitat, and makes the fronds somewhat translucent. Because of this membrane-like frond tissue, the plant is prone to drying out. “Filmy ferns” in the taxa Hymenophyllaceae grow in constantly wet environments. Many are found in cloud forests such as “Choco” in Colombia. There are also members of the taxa that can grow submersed in water.

<i>Argyrochosma</i> Genus of ferns in the family Pteridaceae

Argyrochosma is a genus of ferns known commonly as false cloak ferns. The genus is included in the Cheilanthoideae subfamily of the Pteridaceae. Species now in this genus were previously treated as members of related genera Notholaena or Pellaea but were segregated into their own genus in 1987. These ferns, of which there are about 20 species, are mostly native to the Americas, from North to South and including the Caribbean, while one species, A. connectens, is known from Sichuan, China. They are commonly found growing in cracks between rocks. Their leaves are generally shorter than 40 cm (16 in) and have rounded bluish or grayish green segments. Often the lower surface of the segments is coated in a white dust, and the sporangia contain brown spores.

<i>Angiopteris</i> Genus of plants

Angiopteris is a genus of huge evergreen ferns from the family Marattiaceae, found throughout the paleotropics from Madagascar to the South Pacific islands. Species of smaller stature with elongate synangia and creeping rhizomes are sometimes segregated into the genus Archangiopteris, and a once-pinnate monotypic segregate genus has been called Macroglossum, but molecular data supports inclusion of these taxa within a broad concept of Angiopteris.

<i>Ptisana</i> Genus of ferns

Ptisana is a genus in the eusporangiate fern family Marattiaceae, comprising species historically treated in the genus Marattia. The establishment of this genus follows the 2008 work by Andrew G. Murdock, which supported recognition of this group on the basis of genetic analysis and morphology. Ptisana can be distinguished from Marattia by the presence of distinct sutures at the point of leaflet attachment, deeply cut synangia, and the absence of labiate sporangial apertures. The name Ptisana is derived from the Latin word for pearl barley, an allusion to the shape of the synangia.

Cheiroglossa palmata, synonyms Ophioderma palmatum and Ophioglossum palmatum, variously known as hand fern, dwarf staghorn, or hand tongue, is an epiphytic or terrestrial fern. As an epiphyte it grows in old leaf bases of the cabbage palmetto.

<i>Sceptridium dissectum</i> Species of fern

Sceptridium dissectum is a common fern in the family Ophioglossaceae, occurring in eastern North America. Like other plants in this group, it normally only sends up one frond per year. It has long been the subject of confusion because the frond presents in one of two forms, either the normal form that resembles other plants in the genus, or the skeletonized form.

<i>Argyrochosma dealbata</i> Species of fern in the family Pteridaceae

Argyrochosma dealbata, the powdery false cloak fern, is a small fern endemic to the central and southern United States. It grows on calcareous rocks, such as limestone. Its leaves are highly divided, with leaf segments joined by shiny, chestnut-brown axes, and their undersides are coated with white powder, giving the fern its name. First described as a species in 1814, it was transferred to the new genus Argyrochosma in 1987, recognizing their distinctness from the "cloak ferns".

Ophioglossum petiolatum is a species of fern in the family Ophioglossaceae. William Jackson Hooker named this species in 1823.

References

  1. "Ophioglossum". Plants of the World Online . Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 Hassler, Michael (2004–2021). "Genus Ophioglossum L." World Ferns. Synonymic Checklist and Distribution of Ferns and Lycophytes of the World. Version 12.8. Retrieved 2021-12-22.
  3. 1 2 3 eFloras: Ophioglossum accessed 14 February 2014.
  4. Lukhtanov, Vladimir (2015-07-10). "The blue butterfly Polyommatus (Plebicula) atlanticus (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae) holds the record of the highest number of chromosomes in the non-polyploid eukaryotic organisms". Comparative Cytogenetics. 9 (4): 683–690. doi: 10.3897/compcytogen.v9i4.5760 . PMC   4698580 . PMID   26753083.
  5. Nitta, Joel H.; Schuettpelz, Eric; Ramírez-Barahona, Santiago; Iwasaki, Wataru; et al. (2022). "An Open and Continuously Updated Fern Tree of Life". Frontiers in Plant Science. 13: 909768. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2022.909768 . PMC   9449725 . PMID   36092417.
  6. "Tree viewer: interactive visualization of FTOL". FTOL v1.5.0 [GenBank release 256]. 2023. Retrieved 17 August 2023.