Okie Wheel of the Year: March 29 2021

Adder's-Tongue Fern

Life is returning to my yard, along with one of my favorite plants to see this time of year: Ophioglossom or Adder's-tongue fern. This crazy little plant doesn't look like a fern at all. It looks like a single leaf sticking straight up out of the ground, or in patches, a whole lot of single leaves poking up. The first time I saw it, I watched and watched for the rest of the plant to come up but most of the time a single leaf is all there is to see. Eventually some of them will produce a spike with spores, which is where the plant gets it's name; supposedly these spikes look like an adder's tongue. I've never seen an adder, so I'll take their word for it. The rat snakes I see are too busy pretending to be a piece of wood or slowly running away to hide to let me get a good look at their tongues.

Tongue-Town at Key's Place

There is also a lily-type plant commonly called Adder's Tongue, so that's important to keep in mind when consulting your favorite plant guide. I know, this is where most people would tell you all about what medicine it has, or how to eat it, or it's magical correspondences. My calling isn't to herbal medicine or kitchen witchery so I'm sure you can google as well as I can. "What do you do with plants, then, Druid?" you ask. Well I just think they're neat! Specifically, I think adder's-tongue fern is neat because they're hoarding all the chromosomes. I've found one scholarly reference to a single-celled organism with more chromosome, but otherwise Ophioglossum has the mostest of all. Theoretically this has something to do with how evolutionarily ancient they are and represents the "evolutionary dead end" of a species. They tried it all and if this fails they go extinct. Theoretically. I enjoy sharing space with this ancient and unique dinosaur of a plant through the spring and summer.

In other news, the Full Redbud Moon has just passed, or as the rest of the world calls it, the Full Worm Moon.  Redbud blooms are scant this year thanks to that late cold snap, but they are blooming.   In honor of the Full Worm Moon I want to highlight the Oklahoma Conservation Comission's Soil Health program.  They have resources for farmers and educators and an interesting PDF on How Can I Tell if My Soil is Healthy that talks about all the parts of healthy soil.  Dirt is kinda a big deal, around here.

Full Redbud Moon setting through raggedy trees