Of the Hiftorie of Plants. Li b . 2 . 
Chap. 339. Of Horfe-tongue or ^Double -tongue. 
1 T T Orfe-tongue fendeth forth round ftalkesofa fpan long ; wherupon are fet long broad 
J~j and fharpe pointed leaues, but not pricking as are thofe of Knee-holme , not vnlike 
to the leaues of the Bay tree, but leffer ; greater than thofe of Knee-holm : out of the 
middle rib whereof commeth forth another leafe, fharpe pointed alfo, but fmall, and of the big- 
nelTe of the leafe of Knee-holme, refembling a little tongue. From the bofome of which two leaues 
commeth forth a berry of the bigneffe of a peafe, of colour red when it is ripe, which is fometimes 
in a manner all hid vnder the leafe. The root is white, long, and tough, and of a fweet and pleafant 
fmell. 
1 Hippoaloffummas . 2 Hippogloffum fcemina. 
2 The female Horfe-tongue d iffereth not from the precedent but in ftature and colour of the 
fruit : it rifeth vp (frith my Author) foure or flue handfulls high : the berries come forth of the 
middle partofthe greater leafe, and thefetting onof thelelfer,ofa feint yellowijfh red colour, 
wherein confifteth the difference, d This is all one with the former, d 
3 There is likewife another fort of Double-tongue fet forth by Matthiolus , which feernes vnto 
fome not to differ from the firft delcribed or beft known Horfe tongue, being in truth the felf fame 
plant without any differencemotwithftanding 1 haue fet forth the figure, that it may appeare to be 
the fame, or very little different, and thatnottobediftinguifhed :but Matthiolus may notefcape 
without reprehenfion,who knowing the vntrue tranflation of Rucllius, would fet forth fo falfe a pi- 
<Slure in his Commentaries. 
d Our Author here, as in many other places, miftakes himfelfe; for Matthiolus did not fet 
forth that figure that our Author giues in this place, for Hippoghjfum-, but by the title of Lauras A- 
Icxandrinaaltcra : and it thus differs from the common Horfe-tongue ; ithath fhorterand rounder 
leaues, yet fharpe pointed, and the berries arc not couered with little leaues as in the other, neither 
haue they any apparant ftalkes at all, but grow clofe to the leaues, as you may fee them expr'efl in 
the figure, d 
The male Horfe-tongue. 
The female Horfe-tongue, 
IT rk 
