World’s Smallest Land Fern in Western Ghats

World’s smallest land fern has been discovered by Indian researchers in the Ahwa forests of the Western Ghats in Gujarat’s Dang district.

More about the Fern

• The land fern is of the size of a fingernail and belongs to group known as the adder’s-tongue ferns, named after their resemblance to a snake’s tongue.
• The size of the new Malvi’s adder’s-tongue fern Ophioglossum malviae is just one centimeter and therefore is expected to be the reason for being hidden till now.
• It differs from similar ferns in not just size but other complex fern features too. A look at the plant’s spores under ....