THE 
COMMON ADDER’S TONGUE. 
Ophioglossum vulgatum. — Linnaeus. 
The genus Ophioglossum (Adder’s Tongue, from 
the Greek ophios — a serpent or adder, and glossa — a 
tongue) is the type of the order Ophioglossacese, men- 
tioned before as differing from the True Ferns in 
having ringless spore-cases and their spring fronds 
straightly folded. It differs from Botrychium in 
having the branches of its two fronds quite simple 
or undivided, instead of being pinnate and bipinnate 
as that is. It differs yet more markedly in that its 
fertile branches are not merely the branched panicles 
of Botrychium , but distinct spikes in which the spore- 
cases are distichous (arranged in two rows opposite 
to each other), like the florets of many grapes. Yet 
a third remarkable difference is noteworthy — that 
while in Botrychium , as already seen, the next year’s 
fronds are found within the bases of the growing 
stems, in Ophioglossum a bud is developed by the side 
of this year’s frond. 
