''Ophioglossum azoricum'', the small adder's-tongue fern or lesser adder's-tongue fern, is a small

fern A fern (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta ) is a member of a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. The polypodiophytes include all living pteridophytes except ...

of the family

Ophioglossaceae Ophioglossaceae, the adder's-tongue family, is a small family of ferns. In the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016 (PPG I), it is the only family in the order Ophioglossales, which together with the Psilotales is placed in the ...

Distribution

''Ophioglossum azoricum'' is an Atlantic–Mediterranean species native to islands in the northern

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Afr ...

and adjacent western and southwestern Europe from

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is ...

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

and the

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles (O ...

in the north, to

Macaronesia Macaronesia (Portuguese: ''Macaronésia,'' Spanish: ''Macaronesia'') is a collection of four volcanic archipelagos in the North Atlantic, off the coasts of Africa and Europe. Each archipelago is made up of a number of Atlantic oceanic islands ...

and the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

in the south. It also occurs in the

Toscana it, Toscano (man) it, Toscana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Citizenship , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = Italian , demogra ...

region of Italy, Poland, the Czech Republic, and east to Cyprus, Turkey and Lebanon. This species mostly occurs on bare or shortly vegetated ground on exposed coastal clifftops. An exception to this habitat preference is populations in the

New Forest The New Forest is one of the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in Southern England, covering southwest Hampshire and southeast Wiltshire. It was proclaimed a royal forest by William the Conquero ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

, where plants occur in tightly grazed damp grassland in a non-maritime setting. In Iceland and Greenland,Lid J, Lid DT, Elven R. 1994 Norsk flora. 6th edition. Oslo: Det Norske Samlaget it is restricted to geothermal areas where higher temperatures allow its survival. This species is on the Icelandic list of endangered species.

Description

The frond of ''Ophioglossum azoricum'' consists of a single, pointed leaf blade and a narrow pointed spore-bearing spike on a stalk. The spike has about 4–18 segments on each side, each of which opens up when ripe to release

spore In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for dispersal and for survival, often for extended periods of time, in unfavourable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many plants, algae, ...

s. The sterile blades are broadest near the middle and taper towards both ends.

Taxonomy

This taxon is sometimes treated as a subspecies of ''

Ophioglossum vulgatum ''Ophioglossum vulgatum'', commonly known as adder's-tongue, southern adders-tongue or adders-tongue fern, is a species of fern in the family '' Ophioglossaceae''. The adder’s tongue fern is generally believed to have the largest number of chr ...

'', as ''Ophioglossum vulgatum'' ssp. ''ambiguum'' (Coss. & Germ.) E.F. Warburg. This species is thought to be derived from a hybrid between ''Ophioglossum vulgatum'' and '' Ophioglossum lusitanicum''.

Stace, Clive Clive Anthony Stace (born 1938) is a British botanist and botanical author. He studied at King's College London, graduated from University of London in 1959 and then studied at the Natural History Museum, London. He was awarded a PhD in 1963. ...

(1997). ''New Flora of The British Isles'', second edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press This species has a chromosome number of 2n=c.480.

References

External links

BSBI map: Distribution of ''Ophioglossum azoricum'' in the British Isles

— ''by L. Watson and M. J. Dallwitz''.

{{Taxonbar, from=Q978043 azoricum Flora of Southwestern Europe Flora of the Azores Flora of Greenland Flora of Iceland Flora of Ireland Flora of Italy Flora of Great Britain Plants described in 1845 Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN