Contemporary Circumscription Compared with A Utah Flora 4th ed.

Bio430

Ophioglossaceae

No difference at the family level.

Key Features

Terrestrial or sometimes epiphytic, this primitive fern family is closely related to Psilotaceae. Stems are short, unbranched, and typically underground.  Megaphylls, one frond each year, with dimorphic pinna.  One pinna is vegetative, one pinna is fertile (bears spores). Botrychium shows circinate ptyxis (vernation).  Eusporangiate, sporangia not clustered in sori, homosporous.