ADDER'S TONGUE FAMILY

_OPHIOGLOSSÀCEÆ_

Plants more or less fern-like consisting of a stem with a single leaf. In
_Ophioglóssum_ the leaf or sterile segment is entire, the veins reticulated
and the sporangia in a simple spike. In _Botrýchium_ the sterile segment is
more or less incised, the veins free, and the sori in a panicle or compound
or rarely simple spike. Sporangia naked, opening by a transverse slit.
Spores copious, sulphur-yellow.

ADDER'S TONGUE. _Ophioglóssum vulgàtum_

Rootstock erect, fleshy. Stem simple, two to ten inches high, bearing
one smooth, entire leaf about midway, and a terminal spike embracing the
sporangia, coherent in two ranks on its edges. (Generic name from the Greek
meaning the tongue of a snake, in allusion to the narrow spike of the
sporangia.)

In moist meadows or rarely on dry slopes. "Overlooked rather than rare."
New England states and in general widely distributed. July. Often grows
in company with the ragged orchis. The ancient ointment known as "adder's
speare ointment" had the adder's tongue leaves as a chief ingredient, and
is said to be still used for wounds in English villages.

"For them that are with newts or snakes or adders stung,
He seeketh out a herb that's called adder's tongue."

[Illustration: Adder's Tongue. _Ophioglossum vulgatum_]