Ophioglossaceae, the adder's-tongue family, is a small family of ferns. In the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016, it is the only family in the order Ophioglossales, which together with the Psilotales is placed in the subclass Ophioglossidae. The Ophioglossidae are one of the groups traditionally known as eusporangiate ferns. Members of the family differ from other ferns in a number of ways. Many have only a single fleshy leaf at a time. Their gametophytes are subterranean and rely on fungi for energy.
Ophioglossaceae
Botrychium lunaria
Botrypus virginianus
Sceptridium dissectum
The ferns are a group of vascular plants that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. They differ from mosses by being vascular, i.e., having specialized tissues that conduct water and nutrients and in having life cycles in which the branched sporophyte is the dominant phase.
Image: Psilotum
Image: Equisetopsida
Image: Flickr brewbooks Angiopteris evecta Mule's foot fern (1)
Image: WP2 Hymenophyllum Exkursion nach Berdorf (Luxemburgexkursion) 011