CHAPTER II. 



THE HARTSTONGUE. 



Scolopendrium vulgare. 



and most easily recognizable of the 

 ferns of Great Britain is the Hartstongue. 

 *t it is beautiful, notwithstanding its eminently 

 .imple and unpretending form. Its range is wide 

 indeed almost if not quite universal throughout 

 Great Britain : very plentiful in England and 

 Ireland, somewhat less plentiful in Scotland, and 

 fairly distributed throughout Wales. You cannot 

 mistake its green tongue-shaped frond, narrow 

 and tapering, simple and undivided ; sometimes 

 smooth and straight, sometimes crumpled, but 

 always delightfully green. The Hartstongue is 

 in fact an evergreen, its new fronds starting 

 into sight in April or May, and continuing to 

 do so until the end of September, retaining their 



