80 COMMON HART'S TONGUE. 



it will live under the disadvantages of exposure and 

 heat. 



It was formerly in repute as a medicine. Kay 

 speaks of it as an astringent, and of its healing powers 

 when applied to ulcers and wounds. In the " Phyto- 

 logist " it is mentioned that the late Lady Greenly , of 

 Titley Court, Herefordshire, took great pains to culti- 

 vate an evergreen fern as a remedy for burns, which 

 turned out to be the common Hart's Tongue. 



VARIETIES. 



SCOLOPENDRIUM vuLGARE CRisPUM differs from the 

 common Hart's Tongue in the wavy curled appearance 

 of the frond at the margin ; so that it has the effect 

 almost of a file on each side the mid-rib. It is often, 

 too, of a more delicate texture and paler green 

 colour. 



SCOLOPENDRIUM VULGARE LACERTUM is a dwarf and 

 highly-ornamental fern ; the fronds are often as broad 

 as long j they are deeply-lobed or pinnatifid. It was 

 found on a wall near Taunton. 



SCOLOPENDRIUM VULGARE POLYSCHIDES, or ANGUSTI- 

 FOLIUM of some authors, has a narrower linear frond, 

 blunt at the apex, deeply and irregularly cut at the 

 margin into roundish lobes. The sori are arranged in 

 two irregular lines on each side the mid-rib. 



In Mr. Bradbury's " Nature-Printed Ferns," Pro- 

 fessor Lindley and Mr. Moore have described stxty- 

 six varieties of Scolopendrium ; the distinctions are in 



