HOUND'S TONGUE 



205 



which form a roof above, on short anther-stalks, oblomr and green 

 The style is tapered, and not as long as the stamens, which are included 

 The stigma is blunt and notched. Hound's Tongue is thus adapted 

 to cross-pollination with insect-visits, but self-pollination without. 



The nuts are covered with spines or short-hooked prickles which 

 aid in their dispersal by animals. 



Hound's Tongue is sometimes a halophyte, living on a saline 

 soil, at others a sand-loving plant, when it is found on sand soil. 



Several beetles, Meli- 

 getkes marinus, M. obscurus, 

 Longitarsiis anckusa, L. 

 quadriguttatus, Phyllotreta 

 4 -pustulata, Teinodactyla 

 holsatica, and a fly, Napo- 

 myza lateralis, are found 

 upon it. 



Cynoglossum, Dioscorides, 

 is from the Greek, cuon, 

 dog, glossa, tongue, from the 

 form or texture of the leaf. 

 The second name refers to 

 its use in medicine. 



Dog's - tongue, Gipsy 

 Flower, Hound's - tongue, 

 Rose Noble, Scaldhead, are 

 all names bestowed upon it. 

 Turner, to explain the name 

 Hound's Tongue, says: "it 

 is good against the biting 

 of mad doggs ". 



It was supposed to have the power to prevent dogs barking at 

 a person if laid beneath their feet, and Gerard says that " wild goats or 

 deer, when they be wounded with arrows, do shake them out by eating 

 of this plant, and heal their wounds ". It has a smell of mice. Being 

 astringent it was used in medicine. Hound's Tongue is narcotic. In 

 Chaucer's day the plant was recommended for stuttering. It was held 

 to be antiscorbutic. Cattle refuse it. 



ESSENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: 



213. Cynoglosswn officinalc, L. Stem erect, stout, downy, leaves 

 downy, lower oblong, stalked, upper lanceolate, narrow below, rlowers 

 purplish-red, veined, nuts flattened, prickly. 



HOUND'S TONGUE (Cynoglossmn officinale,L.) 



