(1) Scolopendrium Vulgàre
Phyllìtis Scolopéndrium
Fronds thick and leathery, oblong-lanceolate from an auricled, heart-shaped base, ten to twenty inches long and one to two inches wide. Margin entire, bright green.
In shaded ravines under limestone cliffs. Chittenango Falls, and Scolopendrium Lake, central New York, and Tennessee. Also, locally in Ontario and New Brunswick. One of the rarest of our native ferns, although very common in Great Britain. This plant is said to be easily cultivated, and to produce numerous varieties. According to Woolson, “No rockery is complete without the Hart’s Tongue, the long, glossy, undulating fronds of which are sufficiently unique to distinguish any collection.” In cultivation it “needs light protection through the winter in northern New England.”