ADDER S-TONGUE. 
351 
strained, will yeeld a most excellent greene oyle or rather a bal- 
same for greene wounds, comparable to oile of St. John’s-wort, 
if it do not farre surpasse it by many degrees ; whose beauty is 
such that very many artists haue thought the same to be mixed 
wdth verdigrease.”^ Lightfoot says the common people in 
Scotland “ sometimes make an ointment of the fresh leaves, and 
use it as a vulnerary to green wounds : ” f and Mr. Luxford in- 
forms me it is still gathered for the same purpose in some parts 
of Surrey and Sussex : and used under the name of Adder’s- 
spear ointment. 
The roots and rhizoma of Adder’s-tongue much resemble 
those of Moonwort ; but the rudimentary plant for the next year 
is exterior to the stem, and not enclosed within it as in the lat- 
ter : a reference to the figure will elucidate this explanation. 
The roots are stout, succulent and brittle ; a main root descends 
a certain but not uniform distance, emitting various lateral 
branches at right angles ; the arrangement of these lateral 
branches is somewhat verticillate ; at the lower extremity of the 
perpendicular root, I have invariably found a single horizontal 
root of very considerable length, often as much as ten inches. 
I have procured large pieces of turf filled with these plants and 
their roots, and have carefully removed the earth, expecting to 
find an underground connection between the plants by means 
of these horizontal roots ; but though I constantly found them 
in contact, I never detected anything like union. The detached 
external bud at the base of the stem contains the frond for the 
ensuing year, in a perfectly erect position, and having the leafy 
part of the frond wrapped round the spike of fructification. 
The frond comes above ground in May, still retaining its erect 
position ; it is composed of a long, smooth, pale-coloured, suc- 
culent stem, an ovate, rather acute, slanting, deep green leaf, 
and a straight erect spike, issuing from the inner base of the 
leaf. The leaf is traversed in every direction by irregular anas- 
tomosing veins. The spike is distinctly stalked, the stalk being 
sometimes three or four inches, but generally scarcely more than 
one inch in length. The spike itself is rather stouter at the 
* Ger. Em. 405. 
f Fior. Scot. ii. 652. 
