FERXS AND MOSSES. 
131 
Those who like to collect memorial plants, may find dwarf 
specimens on the old gateway leading to Saltwood Castle, in 
Kent last halting-place of the murderer of Thomas a-Bcc - 
ket ; luxuriant ones, on the left hand bank leading from 
that once stronghold of feudal splendour, where they grow 
in company with several other species. 
It is more than probable that the plant mentioned by 
Gerard under the name of Hemionitis stcrilis, found by him 
in a gravelly lane leading to Oxey Park, near Watford, 
fifteen miles from London, and also on the wall of Hampton 
Court, was no other than the Hart's-tongue. " It is a very 
small and base herb," wrote he, " not above a finger high, 
OSMUND UOYAL. 
having four or five small leaves of the same substance and 
colour, and spotted ou the back like unto Hart's-tongue." 
The dwarfish appearance which the old herbalist describes, 
may be ascribed without doubt to its sterile growing-place : 
for, although individuals of the species grow luxuriantly in 
the clefts, or on the summits of high rocks, this peculiarity 
