The genus has the largest number of chromosomes in the known plant kingdom, but contrary to popular belief does not have the largest number of chromosomes out of all known organisms, falling short to the protist Sterkiella histriomuscorum.
Description
Adders-tongues are so-called because the spore-bearing stalk is thought to resemble a snake's tongue. Each plant typically sends up a small, undivided leaf blade with netted venation, and the spore stalk forks from the leaf stalk, terminating in sporangia which are partially concealed within a structure with slit sides.[3]
When the leaf blade is present, there is not always a spore stalk present, and the plants do not always send up a leaf, sometimes going for a year to a period of years living only under the soil, nourished by association with soil fungi.
The plant grows from a central, budding, fleshy structure with fleshy, radiating roots.
Ophioglossum has a high chromosome count in comparison to other species, with 120 or up to 720 chromosomes possible in intervals of 120 due to polyploidy (multiple possible copies of chromosomes). It has almost 1260 number of chromosomes in the meiocyte (spore mother cell) which undergo meiosis, the reduction division to form the spore with only one set of chromosomes getting incorporated into each spore.[5] The species Ophioglossum reticulatum has the highest number of chromosomes found in any multicellular organism.[6]
^ abcHassler, Michael (2004–2021). "Genus Ophioglossum L."World Ferns. Synonymic Checklist and Distribution of Ferns and Lycophytes of the World. Version 12.8. Retrieved 2021-12-22.
