Ophioglossum vulgatum

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Divisio: Tracheophyta
Divisio: Pteridophyta
Classis: Psilotopsida
Ordo: Ophioglossales

Familia: Ophioglossaceae
Genus: Ophioglossum
Species: Ophioglossum vulgatum
Subspecies: O. v. subsp. africanum – O. v. subsp. kilimandscharicum – O. v. subsp. vulgatum
Varietates: O. v. var. minus – O. v. var. taylorianum
Name

Ophioglossum vulgatum L., Sp. Pl. 2: 1062. 1753.
Synonyms

Heterotypic
Ophioglossum alaskanum E.Britton, Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 24: 556. 1897.
Ophioglossum arenarium E.Britton, Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 24(12): 555, t. 318 (1897).
Ophioglossum dudadae Mickel, Brittonia 44: 313, f. 1F (1992).
Ophioglossum mironovii Sumn., Sist. Zametki Mater. Gerb. Krylova Tomsk. Gosud. Univ. Kuybysheva 1: 1. 1945.
Ophioglossum pringlei Underw. ex Conz., Fl. Taxon. Mexic. 1: 141. 1939, nom. inval., without Latin description.
Ophioglossum pycnostichum (Fernald) Á.Löve & D.Löve, Taxon 26(2/3): 324. 1977.
Ophioglossum sabulicola Sauzé & Maillard, Fl. des deux Sevres 451. 1880. as “sabulicolum”
Ophioglossum unifolium Gilib., Exerc. Phytol. 2: 554. 1792.
Ophioglossum valdivianum Phil., Linnaea 33(3–4): 306. 1865.
Ophioglossum vulgatum f. alaskanum (E.Britton) Gilbert, List N. Amer. Pterid. 12. 1901.
Ophioglossum vulgatum f. altissimum C.W.Christiansen in J.A.Christiansen & al., 1922.
Ophioglossum vulgatum f. arenarium (E.Britton) Clute, Our Ferns: 47, 316. 1901.
Ophioglossum vulgatum f. lanceolatum (Clute) S.F.Blake, Rhodora 15(173): 87. 1913.
Ophioglossum vulgatum var. alaskanum (E.Britton) C.Chr., Fl. Kamtchatka 5(1): 45. 1927.
Ophioglossum vulgatum var. islandicum Á.Löve & D.Löve,. 1948.
Ophioglossum vulgatum var. lanceolatum Clute, Fern Bull. 19: 72. 1911.
Ophioglossum vulgatum var. polyphyllum Stefánsson, 1901, nom. illeg.
Ophioglossum vulgatum var. pycnostichum Fernald, Rhodora 41(490): 494-495, pl. 570. 1939.
Ophioglossum vulgatum var. valdivianum (Phil.) J.S.Licht., Darwiniana 6: 405. 1944.

Distribution
Native distribution areas:

Europe
Northern Europe
Denmark, Finland, Great Britain (England, Wales, Scotland), Ireland, Norway, Sweden.
Middle Europe
Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia (Czech Republic, Slovakia), Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland.
Southwestern Europe
Corse, France, Portugal, Sardegna, Spain.
Southeastern Europe
Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Romania, Sicilia (Sicily, Malta), Yugoslavia (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia).
Eastern Europe
Belarus, Baltic States (Estonia, Kaliningrad, Latvia, Lithuania), Krym, Central European Russia, East European Russia, North European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Ukraine.
Africa
Northern Africa
Algeria, Morocco.
West Tropical Africa
Liberia.
West-Central Tropical Africa
Burundi, Rwanda, Zaïre.
Northeast Tropical Africa
Ethiopia.
East Tropical Africa
Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda.
South Tropical Africa
Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Southern Africa
Cape Provinces (Eastern Cape), Lesotho, KwaZulu-Natal, Northern Provinces (Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Northern Province, North-West Province).
Middle Atlantic Ocean
Ascension.
Western Indian Ocean
Comoros, Madagascar, Réunion.
Asia-Temperate
Siberia
West Siberia.
Russian Far East
Kamchatka.
Middle Asia
Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan.
Caucasus
North Caucasus, Transcaucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Gruziya).
Western Asia
Cyprus, East Aegean Islands, Iran, Lebanon-Syria (Lebanon), Turkey.
China
China South-Central (Guizhou, Hubei, Sichuan, Yunnan), China North-Central (Shaanxi), China Southeast (Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Henan, Hunan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang), Tibet.
Eastern Asia
Japan, Korea (North Korea, South Korea).
Northern America
North-Central U.S.A.
Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Wisconsin.
Northeastern U.S.A.
Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia.
Southwestern U.S.A.
Arizona.
South-Central U.S.A.
Texas.
Southeastern U.S.A.
Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia.
Mexico
Mexico Central (México Distrito Federal, Puebla), Mexico Gulf (Veracruz), Mexico Northeast (Chihuahua, Hidalgo), Mexico Northwest (Sonora), Mexico Southeast (Chiapas), Mexico Southwest (Jalisco, Michoacán, Oaxaca).
Southern America
Southern South America
Argentina South (Neuquén, Rio Negro), Chile South (Los Lagos).

References: Brummitt, R.K. 2001. TDWG – World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, 2nd Edition
References
Primary references

Linnaeus, C. 1753. Species Plantarum. Tomus II: 1062. Reference page.

Links

Hassler, M. 2019. World Ferns. Checklist of Ferns and Lycophytes of the World. . Ophioglossum vulgatum Accessed: 16 02 2019.

Vernacular names

asturianu: Llingua de sierpe
беларуская: Вужоўнік звычайны
български: Обикновен змийски език
català: Llengua de serp
čeština: Hadilka obecná
Cymraeg: Tafod y neidr
dansk: Slangetunge
Deutsch: Gewöhnliche Natternzunge
English: Adder's-tongue
eesti: Harilik maokeel
فارسی: مارزبان (گیاه)
suomi: Käärmeenkieli, Isokäärmeenkieli
français: Ophioglosse vulgaire
magyar: Közönséges kígyónyelv
lietuvių: Vienalapė driežlielė
Nederlands: Gewone addertong
norsk: Ormetunge
polski: Nasięźrzał pospolity
slovenčina: Hadivka obyčajná
svenska: Ormtunga
Türkmençe: Adaty užownik
українська: Вужачка звичайна
中文: 瓶尔小草, 瓶耳小草, 一支箭
中文（简体）: 瓶尔小草

Ophioglossum vulgatum, commonly known as adder's-tongue,[1] southern adders-tongue or adders-tongue fern, is a species of fern in the family Ophioglossaceae.[2]

The adder’s tongue fern is generally believed to have the largest number of chromosomes with 1262, compared to the human’s 46.
Distribution

It is native to many regions with a wide scattered distribution: throughout temperate through tropical Africa and throughout the temperate Northern Hemisphere in Europe, northeastern North America, temperate Asia, and Eurasia.[2][3]

This small, hard-to-spot plant can occur singly in unimproved pastures, rock crevices and grassy path-sides, but also can occur in colonies of hundreds of plants in sand dunes.[citation needed]
Growing in sand-dunes on Anglesey
Description

Ophioglossum vulgatum grows from a rhizome base to 10–20 cm tall (rarely to 30 cm). It consists of a two-part frond, separated into a rounded diamond-shaped sheath and narrow spore-bearing spike. The spike has around 10-40 segments on each side.

It reproduces by means of spores.
Rarity

This species is rare in most European countries. In Ukraine, there were recorded 280 loci: 152 before 1980, after 1980 – 120, as before and after 1980 – 8 locations.[4]
Uses

Traditional European folk use of leaves and rhizomes as a poultice for wounds. This remedy was sometimes called the "Green Oil of Charity". A tea made from the leaves was used as a traditional European folk remedy for internal bleeding and vomiting.[5]
Taxonomy

Linnaeus described adder's-tongue with the binomial Ophioglossum vulgatum in his Species Plantarum of 1753.[6]
References

Stace, Clive (2010b), New Flora of the British Isles (3rd ed.), Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-70772-5, p. 9
"Ophioglossum vulgatum". Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 2014-02-14.
USDA
Parnikoza I., Celka Z. An Archive of the Ophiglossaceae in Ukraine
Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases: Ophioglossum vulgatum

Linnaeus, C. (1753). Species Plantarum. Vol. II (1st ed.). Stockholm: Laurentii Salvii. p. 1062.

6. [1]

West Highland Flora (U.K.): Ophioglossum vulgatum