T HE A DEERS T OXGUE. 
183 
of cows. In William Ellis’s “Country Housewife’s Family Companion” (1750) we find the 
author saying, “ My maid every year makes a pot of Adder’s-tongue ointment solely for this 
very use ; it grows in my meadows, is known by its pecked stalk, somewhat in the shape 
of an adder’s tongue, and is in its full virtue in August, when we gather it, cut it small, 
bruise it, and boil it with some butter as it is taken out of the churn, free of any salt ; 
then we strain out the thin parts, and press out what remains in the thick herby part, 
and keep it in a glazed earthen pot all the year ready for our want ; and when we want 
it, she rubs it soundly on the cow’s teat or bag, which generally at once or twice using it 
disperses the humour, allays the swelling, and cures. For, thus made, it is a balsam that 
heals green wounds, bitings of venomous creatures, St. Anthony’s fire, burns, scalds, hot tumours, 
aposthemes, spreading sores and ruptures, as a Physician’s character is of it. Others take 
Adder’s tongue, Melilot, and Sellery stalks, and when they have been well bruised, they boil the 
juice up in fresh butter without salt. Others boil the juice of rue and houseleek with that of 
Adder’s-tongue in butter ; but the nicest way of all is, to stamp the Adder’s-tongue herb in a 
mortar, squeeze out its juice, and boil it up in butter or fresh lard, without any salt : but 
butter is best, because the lard may give an unpleasant tang to the milk, if it should be mixt with 
it as the cow is milking. Put the juice and butter into your saucepan together, and boil them 
for a quarter of an hour.” This account is so comprehensive that it seems unnecessary to add 
anything further upon the subject. 
The frond of the Adder’s-tongue rises erect from a short fleshy rhizome, which gives off 
long succulent roots, and has a lateral bud from which the next year’s frond is produced : the 
rhizome is perennial, but the fronds are annual. Some of the roots spread in the manner of 
stolons, and produce new plants at some distance from the parent. When the frond first makes 
its appearance, the fertile portion is enclosed in the barren part ; but the former is soon raised 
above the barren leafy portion and is quite distinct from it. The whole frond, when full-grown, 
is from four or five inches to a foot in height ; the stipes is erect and hollow ; the barren part 
is very smooth, quite entire, sessile, ovate in form, and of a peculiar pale yellowish-green hue ; 
the venation consists of very numerous fine almost parallel veins, which are netted throughout. 
Sometimes the fertile portion is not developed ; it consists of a narrow spike, having smooth 
round sporangia embedded in a single row upon each edge of the spike ; these open trans- 
versely for the discharge of the sporules, and, remaining gaping, give the spike a jagged irregular 
appearance. 
The distribution of the Adder’s-tongue is very wide. It extends almost throughout Europe . 
in Asia it occurs in the Caucasus, the Himalayas, Kamtschatka, Unalaska, and Japan. In 
Africa it is reported from Angola, the Guinea coast, Abyssinia, and numerous of the islands — 
the Azores, Madeira, St. Helena, and the Mascarenes ; also from Cape Colony (a form called 
O. capense). In the New World it is stated to occur in Mexico, as well as in temperate North 
America ; as also in Australia and New Zealand. 
If taken up carefully, so as to avoid damage to the roots, the Adder’s-tongue is easily 
cultivated in suitable situations, and when once established will maintain its position with little 
or no attention. 
There is a variety of the Adder’s Tongue, known as O. ambiguum, which occupies a position 
about midway between this and the next species, and has been found in several localities in 
Orkney, as well as in the Scilly Islands and near Barmouth, Merionethshire. It attains maturity 
at a much later date than the typical plant, and is considerably smaller in size. It is found in 
France, and probably in other localities on the Continent. 
