The Fern Lover's Companion 191 



IV 



ADDERS TONGUE FAJNIILY 



OPHIOGLOSSACE.E 



Plants more or less fern-like consisting;' of a stem with a 

 single leaf. In Ophioglossiun the leaf or sterile segment is 

 entire, the veins reticnlated and the sporangia in a simple 

 sj)ike. In Botrijchitiin the sterile segment is more or less 

 incised, the veins free, and the sori in a panicle or com- 

 pound or rarely simi)le spike. Sj)orangia naked, o])ening 

 by a transverse slit. Spores cojjious, sulphur-yellow. 



Adder's Toxcue. pJiioglossum rulgatum 



Rootstock erect, fleshy. Stem simjjle, two to ten 

 inches high, bearing one smooth, entire leaf about midway, 

 and a terminal spike embracing the sporangia, coherent in 

 two ranks on its edges, ((ieneric name from the Greek 

 meaning the tongue of a snake, in allusion to the narrow 

 spike of the sporangia. 



In moist meadows or rarely on dry slopes. "0^-er- 

 looked rather than rare." New England states and in 

 general widely distributed. July. Often grows in com- 

 pany with the ragged orchis. The ancient ointment known 

 as "adder's speare ointment" had the adder's tongue 

 leaves as a chief ingredient, and is said to be still used for 

 wounds in English villages. 



"For them that are with newts or snakes or adders stung. 

 He seeketh out a herb that's called adder's tongue." 



