CRYPTOGAMIA. FILICES. Osmunda. 981 
without an elastic ring; united by a membrane into a 
two-rowed spike; opening crosswise when ripe : Seeds 
numerous, minute. 
O. vulga'tum. (Leaf egg-shaped, veinless, about as tall as the spike, 
which it bears. E.) 
DicJcs. H. S. — {Hook. FI. Land. 78. E.)—E. Bot. 108— Sheldr. 28 —Ff 
Dan. 147— Fuchs. 577—Lonic. i. 103— J. B. iii. 708. 2 —Trag. 323— 
Kniph. 6— Cam. Epit. 364— Bark. 506— Gars. 425— Tourn. 325. 1—• 
Bolt. 3— Blackw. 416. 1 and 2— H. Ox. xiv. 5, row 3. 1— Barr. 252. 1—- 
Matth. 594 —Ger. 327— Dod. 139. 1—Lob. Obs. 471. 1, Ic. i. 808. 2— 
Ger. Em. 404. 1— Fructification , Hedw. Th. 4. 20.21. 22. 23. 
Stem solitary. Leaf egg-spear-shaped, embracing the fruit-stalk. Spike 
strap-shaped, at first green, when ripe brown. Woodw. Leaf sometimes 
slightly lobed with small appendages on one or both sides. Bolt, (always 
solitary. (This perennial herbaceous plant increases in height, and its 
age maybe exactly ascertained, by the successive additions of caudices. 
Mr. Lyell, in FI. Lond. E.) 
Adder’s Tongue. (Irish: Luss na teangah. Welsh: Tafod y neidr cyf- 
fredin.) Moist cold meadows and pastures. Meadows and sides of rivu¬ 
lets in the north of Yorkshire. Curtis. Love Lane, near Derby, Mr. 
Whately. Near Blymhill, Staffordshire. Rev. S. Dickenson. Bed- 
dington, near Bungay. Mr. Stone. Near Meltingbam Castle, Suffolk, 
frequent. Mr. Woodward. Broadmoor, near Birmingham. (About 
Liverpool. Dr. Bostock. In Anglesey. Welsh Bot. E.) 
P. May—June.* 
Var. 2. Many-spiked. Fruit-stalk divided at the top, each branch sup¬ 
porting a spike ; Bolt., and the spike itself sometimes divaricating. 
Blackw. 416. 3— Bolt. 1. 1— Lob. Ic. i. 809. 1— Ger. Em. 404. 2— H. Ox. 
xiv. 5, row 3, f. 2— H. Ox. Ib. f. 3. 4. 5. 6— Cam. Epit. 364— Park. 506. 
the lesser figures. 
OSMUN'DA.f Spike branched: Capsules distinct, sessile, 
globular, two-valved : without an elastic ring ; opening 
either vertically or horizontally. 
(1) Fruit-stalks distinct , rising from the stem at the base of the leaf. 
O. luna'ria. Stalk solitary : bunch lateral: leaf winged, solitary. 
Dicks. H. S. — {Hook. FI. Lond. 66. E.)— Kniph. 11— E. Bot. 318— Blackw . 
420— FI. Dan. 18. 1— Garid. 78, at p. 346— Col. Phyt. 18— Cam. Epit. 
643. 1— Bolt. Fil. A>—Barr. 252. 3 —H. Ox. xiv. 5. 1— Lon. i. 77. 1— 
Matth. 903 —Ger. 328. 2— Matth. a. C. B. 647. 1 —Clus. ii. 118. 2— Dod. 
139. 2— Lob. Obs. 470. 3, Ic. 1. 807. 2— Ger. Em. 405. 2—Park. 507— 
Fuchs. 483— J. B. iii. 710— Trag. 914. 
Within the base of the stem, early in the spring, may be found a complete 
* (An ointment prepared from the fresh leaves has been recommended as a vulnerary to 
green wounds by Matthiolus, Tragus, and others j and is sometimes used as such in this 
country. E.) 
t (Possibly derived from the Anglo-Saxon word mund , signifying strength, (and hence 
Osmond, an appellation of the Celtic deity Thor), in allusion to the supposed invigorating 
virtues of these plants. FI, Lond. E.) 
