Plant descriptions ²

Roots yellowish to pale brown, to 15 per plant, 0.2-0.8mm diam., proliferous at wide intervals. Stem upright, 0.2-1.2 cm, 1-5 mm diam., commonly 2-3 leaves per stem. Trophophore stalk to 0.8 cm, 0.1-0.2 times length of trophophore blade. Trophophore blade spreading, usually plane when alive, green, dull, largest leaves drying with pale central band, ovate to lanceolate, thin, blades less than 0.4 × 0.3 cm in many colonies but blades large, to 4.5 × 1.7 cm in other colonies, herbaceous, base gradually tapered, apex with short apiculum; venation finely complex-reticulate, areoles with only included veinlets in smaller blades but with numerous secondary areoles in largest blades. Sporophores arising at or near ground level, 2-6 times as long as trophophore; sporangial clusters 0.5-1.5cm, 1.5 mm or less wide, mostly with 5-12 pairs of sporangia, apiculum 0.5-1 mm.

Elevation ²

unknown.

Similar species ²

Syn. Ophioglossum tenerum.

Reference ²

Flora of North America Editorial Committee, e. 1993. Pteridophytes and Gymnosperms. Fl. N. Amer. 2: i–xvi, 1–475.

Sources and Credits

1. (c) Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Botany, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), https://collections.nmnh.si.edu/services/media.php?env=botany&irn=10355243
2. (c) Romer Rabarijaona, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)

More Info

• iNat taxon page
• African Plants - a photo guide
• Biodiversity Heritage Library
• BOLD Systems BIN search
• eFloras.org
• Flora of North America (beta)
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
• HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants
• IPNI (with links to POWO, WFO, and BHL)
• NatureServe Explorer 2.0
• SEINet Symbiota portals
• Tropicos
• USDA PLANTS database
• World Flora Online

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