V FERTILE AND STERILE FRONDS LEAF-LIKE AND SIMILAR; 

 SPORANGIA IN LINEAR OR OBLONG FRUIT - DOTS 



35. HART'S TONGUE 



Scolopendrium v^llgare (S. scolopendriurri) 



Shaded ravines under limestone cliffs in Central New York and 

 near South Pittsburg, Tenn. A few inches to nearly two feet long, 

 with stalks which are chaffy below and sometimes to the base of 

 the leaf. 



Fronds. Narrowly oblong, undivided, from a somewhat heart- 

 shaped base, bright-green ; friiit-dots linear, elongated, a row on 

 either side of the midrib and at right angles to it ; indusium 

 appearing to be double. 



When Gray describes a fern as "very rare" and 

 Dr. Britton limits it to two small stations in neigh- 

 boring counties in the whole northern United 

 States, the fern lover looks for- 

 ward with a sense of eager antici- 

 pation to seeing it for the first 

 time. 



During a week spent at Caze- 

 novia, N. Y., a few years ago, 

 I learned that the rare Hart's 

 Tongue grew at Chittenango 

 Falls, only four miles away. But 

 my time was limited, and on a 

 single brief visit to the picturesque 

 spot where the broad Chittenango 

 stream dashes over cliffs one hun- 

 dred and fifty feet high, losing 



Tip of fertile frond *!/ A i ! J jj i 



itself in the wild, wooded glen 

 below on its journey to the distant valley, I did 

 little more than revel in the beauty of the foaming 

 mass which for many days " haunted me like a pas- 



150 



