Ophioglossaceae

3-432.12.00IntroductionEnglish: Snake-tongue-plants; Adder's-tongue family; Grape ferns; Eusporangiate ferns.
Clades: Equisetales; Equisetidae; Equisetanae; Pteridophyta; Plants.
Members: 8 genera: Cheiroglossa, Goswamia, Hakia, Helminthostachys, Ophioderma, Ophioglossum, Mankyua, Whittieria.
Habitat: temperate and tropical.TaxonomyIn the PG1 classification Ophioglossaceae is its own order Ophioglossales, in the subclass Ophioglossidae, together with the Psilotales, in the Leptosporangiate ferns. Botrychiaceae is included in Ophioglossaceae.
Older classifications placed Ophioglossaceae in a separate division, Ophioglossophyta. Molecular phylogenetic studies have shown the Ophioglossales to be closely related to the Psilotales, and both are placed in the class Ophioglossidae or Psilotopsida.
Older treatments recognised segregate families within the Ophioglossales, such as Botrychiaceae for the moonworts and grape ferns and Helminthostachyaceae for Helminthostachys. Modern treatments combine all members of the order into the single family Ophioglossaceae.Plant theoryOphioglossaceae is treated as a family, with Botrychiaceae split off. Ophioglos-saceae is tentatively placed in Subphase 2.BotanyFerns; terrestrial.
Roots: fleshy; unbranched; hairs absent.
Leaves: usually fleshy; turn brownish or reddish during colder months; collateral leaf vascular bundles; each leaf with fertile (sporophore) and sterile (trophophore) parts (latter inclined relative to former) can live some two decades without forming a sporophyte.
Spores: short-lived; not germinating if exposed to sunlight.
Sporangia: lacking an annulus; borne on a stalk that splits from the leaf blade.
Reproduction: gametophyte non-photosynthetic, often subterranean, mycorrhizal; each leaf with fertile (sporophore) & sterile (trophophore) parts (latter inclined relative to former).Typical• mostly only a single fleshy leaf at a time.
• gametophytes are subterranean; rely on fungi for energy.
• eusporangia, larger, contain more spores, and have thicker walls than Instead of the leptosporangia typical of most ferns.
• sporophylls, spore-bearing leaves, are divided into two distinct, the sporophore, which produces sporangia and has a greatly reduced and modified blade, and the rest of the leaf, the trophophore.Stages Remedies8 Helminthostachys zeylanica
16 Ophioglossum vulgatum
x Cheiroglossa palmata
x Mankyua chejuense
x Ophioderma pendulum