Saururus cernuus. a. Top portion of plant, b. Portion of lower stem showing adventitious roots, c. Flower, showing carpels united at the base only (no calyx or corolla), d. Fruit, with persistent stamens, e. Carpels breaking apart. Drawn by Vivian Frazier. From Correll and Correll 1972.

The odor is one of the things still fresh in my memory-apart from wondering if alligators really were dangerous-from the first time I waded thigh-deep into the Fakahatchee Strand in 1970. The large, green herbs in a pond gave off the scent of licorice and mint as I walked through them. All who have waded through swamps in Florida will have come across spots where there are acres of lizard’s tail (Saururus cernuus). Even if they do not notice the rich green heart-shaped leaves, or the stems reaching waist high, most people, like me, note the plants. Once the stems and leaves are bruised by your passing, they release a pleasant spicy fragrance that demands attention. Yet, the species apparently remained unknown to Europeans until British botanist Leonard Plukenet published the first illustration in 1696 under the name Serpentaria repens, floribus stamineis spicatis (prostrate snakeroot, flowers with stamens in spikes). That was fully 200 years after Europeans arrived in the Americas.