Ferns of the Bogs and Marshes 



fronds of this fern are unfolded. Though the blade of 

 the frond is rather tough, its duration is very brief. 

 We must search for this fern during the months from 

 May to August, or we shall be disappointed at not 

 finding it, even though we have been directed to one 

 of the stations where it flourishes. 



This fern received its popular name because of the 

 fancied resemblance of the fertile spike to the tongue 

 of the adder, but the resemblance is more fancied than 

 real. Our ancestors had many strange ideas about 

 plants, one of which was that each plant bore a mark 

 or signature to indicate that it might be made use of as 

 a remedy for particular forms of disease. Having 

 once imagined that the spike referred to was like an 

 adder's tongue, they forthwith came to the conclusion 

 that the plant was intended as an antidote to the 

 poison of the adder. Ophioglossum vulgatum, the 

 botanical name of this fern, simply means Common 

 Adder's Tongue, Ophioglossum being derived from the 

 Greek words, ophis and gloss a, meaning " snake " and 

 " tongue," while vulgatum is Latin for " common." 



A near relative of the Adder's Tongue Fern, and an 

 equally strange plant, is the Moonwort Fern, but we 

 must leave the damp pastures for much drier places if 

 we would make its acquaintance. The grassy banks 

 of the uplands are its favourite habitat, though it may 

 be often found at sea-level, where it grows much taller. 

 Like the Adder's Tongue Fern, it has the frond 

 divided into two parts, a barren leafy blade and a spore- 



38 



