300 
THR FERN PARADISE. 
11 . 
THE ADDERS-TONGDE. 
Ophioglossum vulgatum. 
Plate 1, Fig. 10. 
OMEWHAT similar in its general habit 
to the Moonwort is the Adders-tongue. 
Like the former plant it is found in 
meadows, seeking, however, those which are very 
damp from the fact of having a clayish soil, and 
from being subject to occasional inundations. It 
grows to a length of from six inches to a foot 
high, the variation in length depending, as is the 
case with all Ferns, and, indeed, with all plants, 
upon the conditions — whether favourable or 
otherwise — under which it grows. It has a 
twisted, fleshy root like the Moonwort, and a suc¬ 
culent stem. The frond is divided into two parts, 
—a barren leaf and a fertile spike or stem. There 
is some resemblance in the Adders-tongue— 
leaf and seed-bearing spike—to a leaf of the lily of 
the valley, with its yet unopened flower-spike. The 
