Ophioglossum costatum R. Br., Prodr. Fl. Nov. Holland.: 163 (1810) (Syn: Ophioglossum aphrodisiacum Welw. ex Hook.; Ophioglossum brevipes Bedd.; Ophioglossum bulbosum Bedd.; Ophioglossum felixii Tard.; Ophioglossum fibrosum Schum.; Ophioglossum pedunculosum Desv.; Ophioglossum wightii Hook. & Grev.);
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Tropical & Subtropical Old World to N. Australia: Angola, Ascension, Assam, Bangladesh, Botswana, Burkina, Burundi, Cameroon, Caroline Is., Central African Repu, Chad, Chatham Is., Comoros, East Himalaya, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Gulf of Guinea Is., India, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaya, Mali, Mozambique, New Zealand North, New Zealand South, Nigeria, Northern Provinces, Northern Territory, Philippines, Queensland, Sierra Leone, Society Is., Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Tanzania, Thailand, West Himalaya, Western Australia, Zambia, Zimbabwe as per POWO;
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Terrestrial herbs of about 10-20 cm long with a fleshy small, globose, subterranean rhizome, 1-2.5 x 1-2 cm, roots fleshy, slender. Fronds bipartite; sterile blade 10-12 x 2-2.7 cm, lanceolate, base cuneate, apex obtuse, entire, thick, fleshy, coriaceous, veins anastomosing; common stalk 3-6 cm long, 0.2-0.3 mm thick; fertile spike 3-6.5 cm long, arising from the base of the sterile blade, oblong, acute, flattened, fleshy with wavy margins, stalk 15-20 cm long. Sporangia globose, sunken, arranged in a row on either side of the stalk.
in grasslands of laterite hills, paddy fields, forest margins, etc.
India, Africa, Comores Archipelago, Malagasy, Sri Lanka, Sumatra to East Australia, New Zealand, Sumatra and Guinea coast; Kerala;
(Attributions- K. P. Rajesh from India Biodiversity Portal)
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Ophioglossum for Identification. : 5 posts by 3 authors. Attachments (3)
Please help me identifying the Ophioglossum sp. in attached images.
Date: 30th June 2016
Place: Takve, Maval, Maharashtra
Not sure if the images will be sufficient for confirming ID. I guess they are insufficient.
Would appreciate if someone could share an identification key.

Very close to Ophioglossum polyphyllum but can’t confirm.
Thanks for sharing. I thought Ophioglossum always have solitary leaves.


This is Ophioglossum costatum which bears 1-5 tropophylls and each tropophyll thickish with prominent mid veins



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Ophioglossum sp for ID- 030711-PKA1: (8 images)
I had seen this Herb today on a hill top in Amba valley. I think this is some Ophioglossum sp.
Date/Time: 03-07-2011 / 12:40PM
Location: Mrugagad, Bheliv Cha Killa (near Jambhulpada, Khopoli Pali Rd, Amba valley), Maharashtra
Altitude Approx. 2000ft
Habitat: Wild
Plant Habit: Herb, around 12 cm


Could this be Ophioglossum vulgatum?

Just for info to others, Ophio means snake and glossum means tongue,
pointing towards the sporophyte which looks like snake’s tongue.


I too think that this is Ophioglossum vulgatum.


I think this may be Ophioglossum reticulatum


I think it is Ophioglossum costatum R.Br.


This could be a common one i. e. Ophioglossum reticulatum L. just confirm it at once.


That’s very nice, and lovely photos too. I was just thinking I’m not going to be able to identify it as I must see the rhizome and rhizoids, but there you have a good photo of that too.

It is a smallish O. costatum, with its globose (often deep bowl shaped) corm and many thin roots arising from it. The specimen with the slightly taller, longer sterile leaves is more typical, but the shorter rounder leaves also occur in smaller plants.


PS I had assumed it was all one species, but your photo 8988 looks a lot more like O. petiolatum, while 8986 might even be O. gomezianum, which is common enough in C., W. and S. India.
But we’d have to see good, clear photos of the rhizomes connected to the leaves. O. petiolatum does not have a globose or subglobose rhizome, while O. gomezianum is subglobose. Neither has the thin rhizoids of O. costatum, but they have fewer slightly thicker rhizoids, which can reproduce plants through adventitious root buds.
Mixed populations of more than one species occur quite commonly.
The O. costatum is definite; the other possible two don’t have rhizome and root information so not really identifiable.  Do you remember if the one that looks like petiolatum has elongated rhizomes, not the round ones?

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