98 WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND FERNS. 



modern writers, who must know better, still go on thoughtlessly 

 explaining the name by this assumed resemblance to a serpent's 

 tongue ; though it is time such perpetuation of error should 

 cease. Even so good an authority as the late Mr. Thomas 

 Moore, F.L.S., in his admirable " History of British Ferns," 

 says: "The name Ophioglossiim literally means Adder's-tongue, 

 which is the English name borne by this plant . . . applied in 

 consequence of the resemblance of the fertile fronds to the 

 tongue of a serpent." 



In addition to the English names we have mentioned, a few 

 others are in use locally. Thus in parts of Surrey and Sussex 

 it is Adder's-spear ; in Roxburghshire it is Cock's-comb, and 

 in Cumberland, Edder's-tongue. 



The prothallia of this species are subterranean. 



Moonwort (Botrychium hinaria). 



Although so different from the Adder's-tongue in appearance, 

 and more fern-like, there is yet a similarity in their mode of 

 growth and the way in which the frond divides. As a matter of 

 fact the two genera are comprised in the same tribe the 

 Ophioglosseae, and are thus united because of their possession 

 in common of two-valved spore-capsules, the absence of an 

 elastic ring, and the straight folding (vernation) of the young 

 frond. 



The Moonwort has a small tuberous rootstock, with thick 

 fleshy roots, and at its summit a scaly sheath encloses the bud 

 of next season's frond, which in turn covers that of the following 

 year, and so on with a succession of such annual buds. The 

 frond, which varies in height from three to six inches, is smooth 

 and fleshy. Like that of the Adder's-tongue, it is divided above 

 into a barren and a fertile portion. The barren blade has a 

 distinct stout midrib, bearing on each side a close-set row of 

 half-round, or half-moon shaped pinnae with fan-like veining, 



