
522 FERNS. 
grown. The old herbalists abroad attributed to the Adder's 
Tongue Fern rare virtues of healing, and even the poison of 
reptiles was supposed to be removed by its use. The Adder’s 
Tongue is a native of this country, and I have met with it 
plentifully at Plymouth, and also at Hingham, where it was 
many years ago found by Mr. James S. Lewis of that town, 
and sparingly, there, in another section of the same town, 
by myself. The Moonwort (Botrychium lunaria) is another 
genus of the smaller British ferns, its spore-cases being so 
arranged on a stalk by themselves as to resemble a bunch of 
grapes. It is known there in this one species, but in the 
United States we have as many as five, four species besides 
the British, and several varieties. In England it has proved 
a difficult plant to cultivate, but I am assured by an eminent 
amateur in Ferns, that it grows readily when transplanted 
upon similar grassy land as that from which it was taken. 
Our B. Virginicum is a truly beautiful Moonwort and com- 
mon in rich woods; and our B. lunarioides is subject to 
many curious variations. The Moonwort was especially a 
favorite with the witches, and Chaucer speaks of it as 4 
choice herb with alchemists. The Osmund Ferns are showy 
and conspicuous, abroad represented in the Royal Fern (Os- 
munda regalis), and represented here in a slightly different 
form, growing, however, in similar situations, and deserving 
for beauty, grace, and bearing its regal name; beside this, 
we have two others, the Cinnamon Fern, and the Interrupted 
leaved Fern, well known to young botanists in the spring: 
The Polypods are ferns with elongated fronds, of which the 
common Polypody (Polypodium vulgare) is equally a British 
and a New England species. It is the pretty, evergreen, one 
fern which grows in matted tufts and beds, in the crevices 
and chinks of shaded rocks, and is readily cultivated 0n 
known, o 
I have 
given, 
rock-work. Abroad, at least twenty varieties are 
which the Saw-leaved (P. serratum) is the only one 
noticed growing wild here. Five other species are 
of which the Oak-polypody (P. dryopteris) and the 
ON eae toh Sune an aoa! BS y= - S eea n 



had Spc 9 hr a ell ine a A a e ee a a aae ie a eh ON ese Aa SE 

