Ophiog/ossum concinnum Brack.; 0. vulgatum L. var. pol)Phy/lum Milde
Common names: pololei, adder's tongue
Indigenous
Greek poly-, many, numerous, + phyllus, leaf. A misleading name because this species usually has a single frond and seldom more than two. Early botanists compared this spe-cies with the only widespread species they knew, Ophioglossum vulgatum L., which almost always has only one frond.
Rhizomes subterranean, cylindrical, 2-4 x 2-4 mm, stubble of old stipe bases often retained, roots 10-20 per plant, about 1 mm thick, proliferous, light brown, numerous. Sterile blades usually 1-2( -3+ ), erect, narrowly elliptic to lanceolate, 2-8 cm long, stipes 1/3-1/2 the frond length, tips usually apiculate, sometimes acute. Veins obscure, reticulate, forming small areoles. Fertile spikes about 1-2 x as long as sterile blade, 12-20 pairs of sporangia at tips.
Locally and seasonally common, usually in full sun in sand dunes, in rocky lava cobble, or grasslands near ocean shores, but occasionally on older lava or in soil in depressions in old lava flows, 2-160 m, previously known on all major islands and Kaho'olawe. Seldom seen because it vanishes and reappears only after heavy rains. Colonies with hundreds of plants sometimes appear in January and February after these rains. Ophioglossum polphyllum has recently been found growing in coral sand at Barbers Point on O'ahu; on Moloka'i only two sites are known near Mo'omomi; on Kaua'i it is known only from the Barking Sands-Polihale area. On Lana 'i no plants are currently known, and only one plant has been seen on Kaho'olawe. On Maui sites where 0. polyphyllum has been found are often associated with former Hawaiian occupation (i.e., old house sites, midden deposits, and old paved stone trails). It has been found at Waikapuna and Kahakahakea in the Ka 'ii District of Hawai 'i Island.
This widespread Old World species is known from St. Helena, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Yunnan, Africa, India, the Canary Islands, and Australia, where it is found in habitats similar to those in Hawai 'i. This fern had been treated in synonymies as belonging to other species or was completely disregarded. It was treated as an endemic species, 0. concinnum Brack., by several authors, and on that basis was listed for a time as a federally endangered species. It has been removed from that list.
Ophioglossum polyphyllum may be rec-ognized by its habitat on sand dunes and weathered lava near the ocean; fertile spike with 12-20 pairs of sporangia; and the presence of debris of old stipe bases around the rhizomes.
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and ADBC1115116).
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