ASPIDIUM SHIELD-FERN. 



279 



SCOLOPENDRIUM. —Hart's -Tongue. 



Scolopendrium vulgare Smith. — Harts-Tongue. 



Description. — Fruit-dots linear, one-fourth to one-half inch long, con- 

 tiguous by twos, covered by a delicate indusium which is torn away at 

 maturity, and, the two coalescing, appear like a single one. Frond oblong- 

 lanceolate, auricled at the base, wavy on the margins, G to 18 inches long 

 by 1 to 2 inches wide, smooth and shining, bright green, on stipes 3 to 4 

 inches long. 



Habitat. — In a few shaded limestone ravines near Syracuse, N. Y., 

 and sparingly in the Lake 

 Superior region of British 

 America ; very common in 

 Europe. 



Parts Used. — The fronds 

 — not official. 



Constituents. — Mucilagi- 

 nous and astringent princi- 

 ples. 



Preparations. — Used in 

 decoction. 



Medical Properties and 

 Uses. — Scolopendrium is one 

 of the unimportant remedies 

 much used by the ancients. 

 It is considered diuretic and 

 slightly astringent. 



ASPIDIUM.— Shield-Fern. 



Character of the Genus. — 

 Fruit-dots round. Indusium 

 flat or flattish, scarious, or- 

 bicular and peltate at the cen- 

 tre, or somewhat reniform, 

 fixed at the centre or the sinus, and opening all around ; stipe withering- 

 persistent, not articulated with the rootstock. 



Aspidium Filix-mas Swartz. — Male Fern. 



Description. — Fruit-dots rather large, nearer the mid-vein than the mar- 

 gin, and usually confined to the lower half of the fertile pinnules. Fronds 

 lanceolate, 1 to 3 feet high, bipinnate, the upper pinnules confluent, 

 some of the lower pinnatifid-toothed ; pinnules oblong, obtuse, serrate at 

 the apex. Stipes chaffy at the base. The rootstock is from 3 to G inches 

 long, J to 1 inch thick, or with the stipe-remnants 2 to 3 inches in diam- 

 eter, densely covered with glossy brown chaffy scales. 



Fig. 1G0. — Aspidium Filix-mas. 



