Te Papa Research Fellow Patrick Brownsey was recently contacted
about a population near Levin of the very rare Ophioglossum
petiolatum. Ophioglossum are odd looking ferns, as befits a
common name of “adder’s tongue ferns”. We don’t have a picture
of O. petiolatum (stalked adder’s tongue fern), but the related
O. coriaceum is similar; O. petiolatum has a rounder leaf and a
longer fertile spike than shown in the drawing below.
Ophioglossum petiolatum has a Nationally Critical conservation
status in New Zealand. More details and photos from the Plant
Conservation Network. Pat saw the Hokio population about 30
years ago, and wrote an article about it. A local landowner
wanted to know if the population still persisted. Primary
Science Teacher Fellow Wendy Hogg and I joined Pat for the hunt,
but we were unsuccessful. The area is much changed, and it seems
unlikely (but not impossible) that O. petiolatum survives near
Levin. 1985 article about Ophioglossum petiolatum at Hokio (2.3
MB pdf). However, we did find the u