BC Conservation Data Centre: Species Summary
Ophioglossum pusillum
northern adder's-tongue
| Scientific Name: | Ophioglossum pusillum Raf. | ||||||||||
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| English Name: | northern adder's-tongue | ||||||||||
| Classification / Taxonomy | |||||||||||
| Scientific Name - Concept Reference: | Kartesz, J.T. 1994. A synonymized checklist of the vascular flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland. 2nd edition. 2 vols. Timber Press, Portland, OR. | ||||||||||
| Classification Level: | Species | ||||||||||
| Species Group: | Vascular Plant | ||||||||||
| Species Code: | OPHIPUS | ||||||||||
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| Conservation Status / Legal Designation | |||||||||||
| Global Status: | G4 (Mar 2024) | ||||||||||
| Provincial Status: | S3S4 (Apr 2019) | ||||||||||
| BC List: | Yellow | ||||||||||
| Provincial FRPA list: | |||||||||||
| Provincial Wildlife Act: | |||||||||||
| COSEWIC Status: | |||||||||||
| SARA Schedule: | |||||||||||
| General Status Canada: | 4 - Secure (2010) | ||||||||||
| Ecology & Life History | |||||||||||
| General Description: | Adder's Tongue is an herbaceous perennial that is up to 20 cm high. Each plant has an erect, leafless stem that is 2-15 cm high and which branches into a single leaf-like, ascending, sterile blade and into an erect, spike-like fertile stalk. The sterile blade is elliptic to broadly lance-shaped and 2-8 cm long with entire margins and a rounded to pointed tip. The upper portion of the fertile stalk has 2 rows of contiguous spore-bearing sacs on one side. | ||||||||||
| Technical Description: | |||||||||||
| Diagnostic Characteristics: | There is no other fern with a single entire-margined blade. | ||||||||||
| Similar Species: | |||||||||||
| Habitats: (Type / Subtype / Dependence) |
Agriculture / Pasture/Old Field / Facultative - occasional use
Grassland/Shrub / Meadow / Facultative - frequent use Riparian / Riparian Herbaceous / Facultative - occasional use Springs / Cold Spring / Facultative - occasional use Wetland / Fen / Facultative - occasional use |
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| Global Habitat Comments: | This species grows in moist streamside meadows, wet or periodically flooded meadows, swamp edges, open fens, lake margins, grassy shores, and roadside ditches in lowland and montane zones (Douglas 1989, FNA 1993a, Weakley and Southeastern Flora Team 2023). | ||||||||||
| Provincial Phenology: (1st half of month/ 2nd half of month) |
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| Elevation (m) (min / max): | Provincial: | ||||||||||
| Known Pests: | |||||||||||
| Pollen Vector: | |||||||||||
| Pollinator: | |||||||||||
| Dispersal: | |||||||||||
| Provincial Inventory | |||||||||||
| Inventory Priority: | |||||||||||
| Ownership of occurrences (Known locations): | |||||||||||
| Inventory Need: | |||||||||||
| Economic Attributes | |||||||||||
| Distribution | |||||||||||
| Endemic: | N | ||||||||||
| Global Range Comment: | Ophioglossum pusillum occurs is found in the northern tier of the United States, largely north of the Wisconsin Glaciation region, and the southern tier of Canada from Nova Scotia west to Alaska and British Columbia, south to Virginia, Indiana, Nebraska, Wyoming, and California. | ||||||||||
| Disjunct, more common elsewhere: | |||||||||||
| Peripheral, major distribution elsewhere: | |||||||||||
| Authors / Contributors | |||||||||||
| Global Information Author: | MZB | ||||||||||
| Last Updated: | Dec 23, 1996 | ||||||||||
| Provincial Information Author: | |||||||||||
| Last Updated: | |||||||||||
| Last Literature Search: | |||||||||||
| References and Related Literature | |||||||||||
Douglas, G.W., D. Meidinger, and J. Penny. 2002. Rare Native Vascular Plants of British Columbia, 2nd ed. B.C. Conserv. Data Centre, Terrestrial Inf. Branch, Victoria. 358pp. |
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Douglas, G.W., D. Meidinger, and J. Pojar, eds. 2000. Illustrated Flora of British Columbia, Vol. 5, Dicotyledons (Salicaceae through Zygophyllaceae) and Pteridophytes. B.C. Minist. Environ., Lands and Parks, and B.C. Minist. For., Victoria. 389pp. |
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Douglas, G.W., G.B. Straley, and D. Meidinger. 1989. The vascular plants of British Columbia. Part 1. Gymnosperms and Dicotyledons (Asteraceae through Cucurbitaceae). Crown Publications Incorporated. Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. 208 pp. |
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Weakley, A.S. 1997. Flora of the Carolinas and Virginia: working draft of 21 July 1997. The Nature Conservancy, Southeast Regional Office, Southern Conservation Science Dept., Chapel Hill, North Carolina. |
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Weakley, A.S., and Southeastern Flora Team. 2023. Flora of the southeastern United States. Edition of April 14, 2023. University of North Carolina Herbarium (NCU), North Carolina Botanical Garden, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. 2105 pp. |
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Please visit the website Conservation Status Ranks for definitions of the data fields used in this summary report.
Suggested Citation:
B.C. Conservation Data Centre. 1996. Species Summary: Ophioglossum pusillum. B.C. Minist. of Environment. Available: https://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/ (accessed Jun 18, 2026).