The Forrest City times., 1890-05-10
DRAGON roNGuE.

We promised our readers last week tO look up the word dragons tongue. 7" and to give them the benefit of our re- searches. We have waded, neck-deep, through all the unabridged dictionaries and ency yclOpTdias at our command, and examined the word dragon, which is derived from the latin, draco, mean ing. to look; and in noun-form, a mon stcr with large eyes. We find it in mythology as comrion noun designat. ing d fabulous animal; winged sei- pent or lizard. In early paintings and sculptures the dragon Is represented as q winged crocodile, says Fairholt.
 The word, also, had an astronomical meaning; a constellation of the north ern hemisphere figured as a dragon, says Webster: and Shakespeare speaks of him as jack-o' lantern, or a luminous exhalation arising from low, marshy grounds, and flying about us a winged serpent
 In zoology it means a genus of rep tiles, found in the East lndias This member of the reptilian family of lizards, has a frings-like arrangement Of the skin that enables it to glide through the air for short distances.
 The Bible mentions the dragon in in many instances. Revelations, chap ter 22, verse 2, says: He laid hold upon the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years"
 In the books above named we flud five words compounded with the word dragon, and used botanically as the English maine of plants and trees. The words and definitions are dragon S. head, q plant of several species of the genus Draco- -cephalum; dragon 's-water, d plant belonging to the genus CaIla; dragon 's-wort, a plant of the genus Artemisio, and dragon-tree, a plant. or tree of the genus Dracaena. But marry a" dragon 's-tongue did we find
 We find, though, in Chambers ency- clopGdia the name of plant given thus: Dragon. green. (Drocunculus vulgaris.) It is rot given In Webster at all, and Chambers says it is a native southern Europe. We are inclined to the belief that this Mir. Green Dragon, originating in the south of Europe, is the identical gentleman, known here by the name of Dragon tongue. By any name, sex, or previous condition. it is a plant of many peculiaritios, and worthy the deepest study. It's stock has a gray, snakish color, and it has very many folar appendages, and, in- deed, its foliosity is attractivelv large; and it's leaves are rather tongue shaped, long, slender, and poignant. likc the tongue of tho serpent, which would naturally cause the non-profcssional and embryonic botanist to call it dra- gon s-tongue. Mrs. Pearson and Miss Tudie Taylor aroused our botanical curiosity concerning this plant, by pointing us to 1t, where 1t grows among numerous flowers and shrubbery. in the front yard of the first named lady. These ladies ara great lovers of flowers, which, by the way, Is indicative of a sweet disposition, and we are sorry our little brain is not sufficiently expanded, to be able to collect. and give them, and the public generally. more definite information about it. We publish the paragraph below to show the similarity of the green dragon, of Europe, to the dragons tongue, of America. We can provo 1t. at all, but We have no doubt. but that it camc over in the May Flower. But here is Chamlers Dragon, green, a plant of the natural order Aracep, which receives it's name from it's spotted stem. It is d native of the south of Europe. Its flowers are black. remarkably fetid, and gives out exhalations which causes headache. giddincss, and vomiting. The root is emetic, and, probably for no better reason than the peculiar appearance of the stem has been supposed useful for curing serpcnt-bites. The likeness of this definition with the homo article is so striking we conclude they are ideatie- al and will so believe till other testi- mony is brought upon the stand. The ladies informed us that the unpleasant smell leaves it in a short time after spring germination. and then It diff fuses fragrance that is rare and ex- uuisife