THE FERN PARADISE. 



11, 



THE ADDERS-TONGUE. 



Ophioylossum v idgatam. 

 PLATE 1, FIG. 10. 



[OMEWHAT similar in its general habit 

 to the Moonwort is the Adders-tongue. 

 Like the former plant it is found in 

 meadows, seeking, however, those which are very 

 damp from the fact of having a clayish soil, and 

 from being subject to occasional inundations. It 

 grows to a length of from six inches to a foot 

 high, the variation in length depending, as is the 

 case with, all Ferns, and, indeed, with all plants, 

 upon the conditions whether favourable or 

 otherwise under which it grows. It has a 

 twisted, fleshy root like the Moonwort, and a suc- 

 culent stem. The frond is divided into two parts, 

 a barren leaf and a fertile spike or stem. There 

 is some resemblance in the Adders- tongue 

 leaf and seed-bearing spike to a leaf of the lily of 

 the valley, with its yet unopened flower-spike. The 



274 



