In D&D, the basilisk is quite a different creature, and very far from being legless. While the association of poison with serpentine beings make sense, it's not common in depictions of dragons. The D&D idea of certain dragons belching poisonous gas instead of something flammable is likely an original one - something added so that each of the five chromatic dragons had a unique attack mode. And in this case, of course, that's the green dragon, the mid-point in the five-point scale of increasing chromatic dragon power.
In fact, green is a colour often associated with poison in fantasy - despite the fact that it's also associated with healthy plants. This might be connected with snakes, although not many of them are literally green, but perhaps it's more likely to be associated with a sickly bilious hue or genuinely green poisons such as chlorine gas and certain arsenic compounds. It's likely why Gygax chose this particular colour for the poison-breathing dragon, but it doesn't have much of a precedence in genuinely ancient myths. (Chlorine and the most widely used green arsenic-based poison weren't discovered until the 1770s - one year apart, by the same man).
1E
As it originally appears in 1E, the green dragon has a slender fore-body and neck and comparatively powerful hindquarters. It appears that, were it standing on all fours, it would therefore have a sloping back, almost like a long-necked kangaroo. The head is also slender, and resembles that of a crocodile, while the feet have three toes each, being much larger on the hind-limbs. We can't see the full wings, but the 'arm' part appears to be fused into a single arcing bone, with no trace of an elbow; they otherwise seem to be roughly bat-like.
The most distinctive feature of the green dragon, however, is its dorsal frill, which runs from the head to at least the mid-back, but does not extend onto the tail. For most of its length, this seems to be formed of the spinous processes of the vertebrae, extending out of the back and connected by a sail-like membrane. However, the first two spines arise from the skull, and must therefore be skeletally distinct structures, similar to horns. There are several possible purposes for such a frill; the most obvious is perhaps some display of sexual fitness (something so large wouldn't need it simply to appear more fearsome or as a warning to predators) but it's true that it would also shed heat from the body, and that might help in the tropics.
On the scale of draconic power, the green dragon is clearly one step above the black. It has one extra hit die, one extra point of armour, does one point more damage with its claws, does one step more damage with its bite, and so on. It still spends more of its time asleep than a human, but less than some real-world predators. Notably, the extra point of intelligence brings it to par with the average human, and the rare magic-casting green dragons are at least passably skilled. It's said to be 'lawful evil', but apparently has a short temper and doesn't seem to work well with others, which might call that into question.
The 1E version is, as other dragons are in that edition, not physically overwhelming, with a typical adult (that is, growth stage 5) being roughly as tough as a hippopotamus, albeit better armoured and with sharper teeth. At 36 feet (11 metres) in length, it is, nonetheless, quite a lot larger than a hippo. In fact, it's about the same size as an Allosaurus, which has far more hit points than it does. This sort of discrepancy is tidied up in 2E, where, as with all other dragons, it becomes significantly more deadly.
The body of the 2E version is not slender at the front, and the head, while still crocodile-like, is broader. The wings are really very batlike, from what we can see of them - although, obviously, the membrane doesn't stretch to the hind legs as it does in bats. The frill runs down most, perhaps all, of the tail, where it is paired with a similar ventral frill. The latter, presumably, is supported by extensions of the chevron bones, something obviously absent in humans, but that help to protect the blood vessels of tails in many animals that have them. We're told that the scales of a green dragon are not so well armoured as those of other dragons, but they're harder to injure than the black or white sorts, so they're presumably quite agile.
3E
The muscular body of the 3E green dragon does have a sloping back, but it's in the opposite direction than before, with the front legs being the longer ones, and not as dramatic. The legs are also more powerful, and now have four toes, with a large non-opposable thumb. One feature that is retained from both previous editions is a curved claw-like projection on the elbow; this had reversed direction in 2E but is now back in its original orientation. As so often, the purpose of this is unclear, since it wouldn't be much use as a weapon, and sexual display seems a bit far-fetched as an explanation in this case.
We can see the wings clearly now. They are formed by four equally-spaced digits (not quite how they're arranged in bats, but perfectly plausible) with a projecting and possibly somewhat flexible thumb. Unlike the black dragon, the thumb does not bear an alular membrane; it's just a claw of uncertain function. The head has a less crocodilian look, with bony flanges at the rear of the lower jaw and a short but narrow snout. The frill only extends to the base of the tail, as it may have in 1E and lacks the ventral counterpart.
Although it's clearly still the mid-point on the scale of draconic power, the progression is no longer as perfect as it was before. Although its scales are thicker/tougher than those of a black dragon (in contradiction of 2E), it's no more difficult to injure, because it's a bigger target and harder to miss. Its ground speed is also slower, perhaps because of its greater mass, since the legs don't seem any shorter. It's now well above average human intelligence, easily outsmarting a black, although not quite up to the standard of the even larger reds. The 'lawful' attitude is also more clearly explained, with green dragons being loyal to one another when they do meet and being more interested in domination than destruction. Surprisingly, they are amphibious, although much less agile in the water than the more obviously semi-aquatic blacks.
5E
The description of the green dragon in this edition plays up its intelligence and cunning to a greater extent than the previous editions, and we certainly don't have the short-tempered rages of 1E. Notably, this is now the most intelligent of all chromatic dragons, breaking the regular progression of increasing ability and power more clearly than before. (Although the usual ranking still applies in most physical respects, of course). Indeed, its intelligence is now very nearly superhuman and this, as much as its particular attack, is really what makes it distinctive.
In other respects, it's more agile than before, but less so than a black, although its swimming is now on a par with its marsh-dwelling counterpart. As with other dragons, the languages it knows have changed as the editions have progressed. Originally, less than half of green dragons could speak at all, even to each other. While all dragons could speak in 2E, this did not extend to the Common Tongue, and there were multiple different forms of Draconic, which seemingly were not mutually intelligible. In addition to speaking two of these, green dragons were also telepathic... by 5E this had changed to a single Draconic language and the universal ability of all but the youngest of dragons to speak Common.
The natural habitat of green dragons is woodland, although, as with some real-world creatures, they are adaptable enough to cope with a wide range of different forest types. Forests vary in how much biodiversity and general volume of available food they contain, but generally speaking, it's high, especially in the tropics. This makes it a good place for top predators to find prey and, unlike wetlands, it's extremely extensive, especially in pre-industrial times, leaving no shortage of suitable terrain in which to lair.The downside for a predator is that, if you're flying above the tree tops, it's hard to see what's beneath them. And flying below the tree tops isn't an option for something with the wingspan of an adult green dragon. Indeed, they likely need significant clearings just to take off and land. This makes dense forests unattractive as hunting grounds, although they'd be fine for creating a secluded lair. Indeed, dense forests with tangled undergrowth tend to be low on large animals in general, being inhabited primarily by those that can climb or burrow (although there are some exceptions, of course).
The likely upshot of this is that young dragons may indeed frequent relatively dense forest, if they're agile enough to fly through them, since the prey there is of a reasonable size for them, and it's likely where they were hatched. But, while sexually mature (larger) dragons may lair and raise young there, they are more likely to hunt near the forest edge, in open woodland where larger prey is more common, more easily spotted, and more easily pursued. Technically referred to as the "forest ecotone", this, as much as the forest proper, can be a rich habitat that's as good for predators as it is for the animals they hunt.
The green dragon's signature attack is to breath out a cloud or cone of poisonous gas. From 4E onwards, it isn't specified what this poison is, beyond the fact that it's green and has an "acrid" smell. Earlier editions, however, clearly indicate that it's the greenish-yellow gas chlorine. As with many poisonous gases, this is detectable by smell before it's strong enough to be deadly, and it's heavier than air, meaning that it tends to accumulate in low places, rather than escaping through, say, gaps in a roof. (Although, if you think about it, it does seem to dissipate rather rapidly in D&D, since it has no lingering effects).
Although chlorine was officially "discovered" in 1774, that really refers to its identification as an element and receipt of its name. It had been known about in at least general terms since the time of the medieval alchemists and its association with dragons would surely have led to a better understanding of the stuff in the D&D universe.
Real-world animals don't produce chlorine gas. The problem probably isn't chemistry, since it should be extractable from salt without too much difficulty - it's just that it would kill the creature making it. Green dragons, of course, are immune to poison gases in 2E (but not 1E), and immune to poisons of any kind from 3E onwards.
Chlorine kills by attacking moist membranes, especially those inside the lungs. Symptoms include stinging eyes, a burning throat, coughing, and vomiting... unless it's strong enough that you just keel over. This works partly because it produces small quantities of hydrochloric acid when dissolved in water, but also because it's an oxidising agent that mucks up the functioning of the body's cells. It's not the sort of poison that has an "antidote" other than getting rid of the stuff.
It's not obvious how a living animal could be immune to that, although partial resistance might at least be possible. But, in any event, at least from 3E onwards, green dragons are immune to all poisons. And, of course, poisons can work through a number of different mechanisms. Some are neurotoxins that kill by paralysing the muscles of the lungs (and green dragons, while immune to that, aren't immune to non-lethal paralysis), while others attack the functioning of key biochemical pathways - cyanide, for instance, stops the body extracting energy from oxygen, which is obviously fairly terminal.
The only way to be immune to even a high proportion of these poisons is either to have a radically alien biochemistry (demons, probably) or not to have a biochemistry at all (undead, constructs). This leaves us with the idea that, in green dragons, it's some broad spectrum magical effect. Given that almost everything is poisonous if you raise the dose high enough, and that green dragons aren't immune to dangerous chemicals that are classed as acids, or indeed, to those that merely paralyse or (presumably) have a narcotic effect, it's hard to envisage exactly how this might work in the way described.
It's a lot easier to define this sort of thing in a game that necessarily deals with broad categories than it is in a world with the messiness and complexity of reality.
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