Common adder tongue

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Common adder tongue
Common adder's tongue (Ophioglossum vulgatum)

Common adder's tongue ( Ophioglossum vulgatum )

Systematics
Ferns
Class : Psilotopsida
Order : Adder tongue-like (Ophioglossales)
Family : Adder tongue family (Ophioglossaceae)
Genre : Adder tongues ( Ophioglossum )
Type : Common adder tongue
Scientific name
Ophioglossum vulgatum
L.
Illustration from C. A. M Lindman's Pictures ur Nordens Flora
Common adder's tongue, perched on an Anglesey sand dune

The common adder's tongue ( Ophioglossum vulgatum ) is a species of ferns in the genus of the adder's tongue .

description

The common adder tongue forms up to 20 roots underground , the diameter of which is 0.3 to 0.9 mm and which grow radially away from the shoot axis . The roots lack the hairs , the function of which is probably taken over by mycorrhizal fungi . The subterranean prothallium is usually chlorophyllless .

The stem reaches a length of up to 1 centimeter and a diameter of about 3 mm. It only bears one leaf that forms in spring or early summer. As with all types of adder tongue, the leaf is divided into two parts. The sterile trophophyll is undivided. It is stalked, with the stalk about 5 mm long. It stands upright or slightly inclined. The color is glossy dark green. The trophophyll is smooth in a healthy plant. The shape is egg-shaped or egg-shaped-spatula, it is up to 10 cm long and at the widest point up to 4 cm wide. Its base includes the fertile sporophyll , the tip is rounded. The nerve is very complex, reticulate, with free veins in areoles .

The sporophyll begins at ground level and becomes two to four times as high as the trophophyll. On it sit two vertical rows of 10 to 35 sporangia that are 20 to 40 mm long and between 1 and 4 mm wide. The apiculum , the short tip of the sporophyll, is 1 to 1.5 mm long.

ecology

The Common Adder's tongue is a rhizome - Geophyt , which often occurs in herds. The stem axis is very short, underground, i.e. H. limited to the rhizome. The leaves are single and consist of a yellowish-green, greasy, shiny photosynthesis part and a tongue-like part perpendicular to it, which carries the spike-like sporangia ; they therefore consist of a sterile and a fertile part, the latter often failing. Usually only one leaf unfolds per year, which takes up to three years to develop and is not curled at the top; after the spores ripen, it dies. There is an endotrophic VA mycorrhiza d. H. The prothallium , embryo and the subterranean young plant parasitize on the mycorrhizal fungus, which corresponds to myco- heterotrophy , while the green plant is autotrophic and lives in symbiosis with the fungus .

In contrast to most other fern plants, the young parts of the plant are relatively often eaten by pests.

Multiplication

The prothallium lives underground, is free of chlorophyll, only a few millimeters in size, initially nodular in appearance, later irregularly worm-shaped. It is long-lived and can possibly last up to 20 years. The spermatozoids have many flagella. The young plant lives underground for several years and is supplied by the mycorrhizal fungus until the first leaves and roots are formed. The sporangia are arranged in two lines. They open with 2 flaps through a transverse crack. In contrast to most other native ferns, there is no ring, the so-called annulus with a cohesion mechanism, so that the spores are not actively ejected; rather, they are passively spread out by the wind as grain fliers and are dark germs . Spore ripening is from June to August.

The Vegetative propagation is predominant; it takes place through root shoots as "root brood".

Occurrence

The common adder's tongue inhabits shady secondary forests , wooded slopes or valleys, and forests that are regularly flooded. In Germany it is often found on moorland meadows and damp, patchy, rough meadows. The soil must be poor in nutrients. The common adder's tongue is considered to be an association character of the plant-sociological unit of the pipe grass meadows ( Molinion caeruleae ), an original meadow type with conspicuous types of grass. The population in Germany is declining, but is considered secure.

The species is distributed in Eurasia , the southern United States, and Mexico at altitudes between 0 and 1400 m.

Systematics

The scientific name Ophioglossum vulgare was first published in 1753 by Carl von Linné in Species Plantarum . In addition to the nominate form Ophioglossum vulgatum var. Vulgatum, there is also a variety O. vulgatum var. Pycnostichum Fernald , which was first described by Áskell Löve and Doris Benta Maria Löve as a separate species Ophioglossum pycnostichum .

The closest relative of the common adder's tongue seems to be Ophioglossum pusillum , which is distinguished, however, by a leathery basal leaf cover and smaller spores.

Specimens of the common adder tongue from Europe or India have two copies of the genome (2n) on their spores and the DNA is distributed over 2n = 480 chromosomes . In the Appalachian Mountains , however, there is a population with particularly large spores, which have 2n = approximately 1320 chromosomes, this is one of the highest chromosome numbers in the entire plant kingdom.

Culture

The common viper tongue is popularly called "Our Lord's Spärkraut" after the spear that was thrust into the side of Jesus hanging on the cross. The species is also called "fever herb", especially around Friedberg (Hessen) . According to a custom, the plant is picked on Ascension Day with the words: “Here I am eating new fruit! - God save me from fever and yellow addiction! ”Eaten .

literature

  • Franz Fukarek: Urania plant kingdom . Volume 2: mosses, ferns, naked plants. Urania-Verlag, Leipzig 1992, ISBN 3-332-00495-6 .
  • Josef Dostál: Family Ophioglossaceae Diamond Fern Family . In: Karl Ulrich Kramer (ed.): Illustrated flora of Central Europe. Pteridophyta, Spermatophyta . Founded by Gustav Hegi. 3rd, completely revised edition. Volume I. Part 1 Pteridophyta . Paul Parey, Berlin / Hamburg 1984, ISBN 3-489-50020-2 , p. 84-88 .
  • Warren H. Wagner Jr., Florence S. Wagner: Ophioglossum. In: Flora of North America Editorial Committee (Ed.): Flora of North America North of Mexico . Volume 2: Pteridophytes and Gymnosperms . Oxford University Press, New York / Oxford a. a. 1993, ISBN 0-19-508242-7 , pp. 105 (English, online ). (English).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Ruprecht Düll , Herfried Kutzelnigg : Pocket dictionary of plants in Germany and neighboring countries. The most common Central European species in portrait . 7th, corrected and enlarged edition. Quelle & Meyer, Wiebelsheim 2011, ISBN 978-3-494-01424-1 , p. 546-547 .
  2. ↑ Carl von Linné: Species Plantarum. Volume 2, Lars Salvius, Stockholm 1753, p. 1062, digitizedhttp: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.biodiversitylibrary.org%2Fopenurl%3Fpid%3Dtitle%3A669%26volume%3D2%26issue%3D%26spage%3D1062%26date%3D1753~GB%3D~ IA% 3D ~ MDZ% 3D% 0A ~ SZ% 3D ~ double-sided% 3D ~ LT% 3D ~ PUR% 3D

Web links

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