90 FAMILIAR WILD FLOWERS. 



allusions to it in our older writers. The only instance we 

 shall here quote is a still more interesting one, as it may 

 be taken as an indication of the early assertion of the plant 

 to a place in our native flora. Jonson, in his " Masque of 

 Queenes," says : 



' ' I have been plucking (plants among) 

 Hemlock, henbane, adder's tongue, 

 Nightshade, moonwort, libbard's-bane." 



Hemlock, henbane, and nightshade are all dangerous 

 poisons, and so, too, is the leopard's -bane. Adder's-tongue 

 sounds as though it should be formidable, though the little 

 fern that bears that name is so called from the shapo of 

 the spike of fructification,. and not from any deadly quality ; 

 while moonwort, another graceful little fern, is as harmless 

 as the last, though its name may be suggestive of deeds of 

 darkness. What we, however, here want to enforce is 

 that the leopardVbane comes naturally into associa- 

 tion with five other plants, all of which are most un- 

 doubtedly found freely growing wild. Jonson's spelling 

 of the name is in accordance with the usage of the time, 

 and many of our readers will no doubt recall the " libbard " 

 in Shakespeare's works and elsewhere. 



The root-stock of the leopardVbane is large and some- 

 what creeping, and it was this part of the plant that was 

 more especially valued in medicine, though it was a very 

 dangerous thing to deal with, and the speedy death of the 

 patient was the result of incautious use. There is 

 great reason to believe that Conrad Gesner, the monstrum 

 eruditionis, as Boerhaave called him, prematurely closed 

 his career in experimenting with this plant. The lower 

 leaves of the leopardVbane are large, rough in texture, 

 and heart-shaped, each being borne on a long stem. We 



