Adder's Tongue Fern Ophioglossum vulgatum (Fr. Langue de serpent).
Five years ago I could hardly believe my eyes! A rare and protected fern suddenly appeared in the orchard. I had no idea where it had come from and I'd never seen it before anywhere, despite spending lots of time with botanists and seeing many rare and protected plants here.
This year I'm thrilled to see that the Adder's Tongue is everywhere in the orchard, stretching in a broad band from north-east, where the original station is, to south-west, up under the sour cherries. I've never seen so many individual plants of it.
I'm told that it is a plant whose presence indicates well managed meadow and old meadow. It is widespread but scattered in lowland France, and not common. Here in Centre-Val de Loire it is rare and protected, considered threatened, but it is the sort of plant that is prone to being under-recorded because it is small, has a short season above ground, and not showy. In the Brenne the fern is recorded along roadsides and grasslands on poor soil, often in places that get both very wet and very dry in the course of the year. The species is a ZNIEFF determinant (meaning that its presence indicates a site of interest ecologically). It is at risk when land is drained, when grassland is modified ('improved' or urbanised) or is abandoned and mowing for hay ceases. The population is in strong regression because of all these things.
My serious botanist friends ask me every year if the Ophioglosse has reappeared. This year I sent them all an email to let them know.
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