.S’ COL OPENDRIUM. 
*35 
earely or late, when neither the sunne nor moone doe shine on it.” There are many ways 
in which Hart’s-tongue was prescribed to be used, one of the simplest being “ eate the herb,” 
a form of cure which is recommended in “jaundise and griefes of the liver.” It seems to 
have been very much used in the form of powder ; one prescription (for “ milt griefes ”) advises 
us to “ make powder of it, and of the lungs of a foxe, maces, and sugar-candy, and drink 
thereof with wine or ale ; ” while in the case of “ liver griefes ” we are to “ seethe it with 
fumiterre, and liverwort, of each one handful in clarified whey, and drink thereof first and last, 
especially in May, with a little rubarbe or chamepiteos.” There are other similar remedies 
in which the powder figures as an important item, but it is unnecessary to multiply them. 
A conserve was also made of the green fronds, which was employed in cases similar to those 
above cited. 
The Hart’s-tongue is a fern of somewhat wide geographical distribution. It occurs 
throughout Europe, on shady banks or walls, or in woods, mostly in moist situations, from 
Scandinavia to Italy, Greece, and Spain. It occurs, though sparingly, in Madeira and 
the Azores, and also in North Africa (Algiers). In Asia it is represented in the region of 
the Caucasus, Asia Minor, and Japan, but does not appear in India or China, or in 
Australia; it is found in Mexico, and in the State of New York, as well as in Canada 
West. 
We have said that the fern now under consideration is a very variable plant ; this will at 
once become apparent when we say that Mr. Moore describes at length no less than a hundred 
and fifty-five varieties, and that this long list has been added to since his work was published. 
It would obviously be impossible, even if it were desirable, that we should give even an 
enumeration of these in the space at our disposal ; those especially interested in them must 
consult the “ Nature-printed Ferns” (octavo edition), pp. 148-197. Mr. Moore says truly enough 
that “a collection of Scolopendriums alone might be made sufficiently extensive to engage 
the interest of many an amateur cultivator, and yet thoroughly free from anything like 
monotony of character, though originating from one which in its normal state is the most 
simple among British ferns.” The varieties may be classed under two heads — one containing 
the plants in which the normal strap-shaped form of the frond is preserved ; the other 
including those in which the fronds are branched, or at any rate much divided at the apex. 
As types of these latter, we may take the varieties multifidum and ramosum, the former 
of which is many times forked near the apex, the divisions being curled and variously cut, 
the stipes being undivided ; and the latter having a branched stipes with short irregular dense 
fronds, which are closely divided and curled at the apex. This is an old and not very 
common variety, which is sometimes met with in a wild state ; it is quite constant in culti- 
vation, reproducing itself from spores. It has been known for a very long time, as the accom- 
panying figure, reproduced from Gerard, will show. His description of it is brief but sufficient, 
and it is interesting to notice that even as early as this period (1597) the variety was in 
cultivation. “ The kinde of feme called Phyllitis multifida, or Laciniata , that is iagged Hart’s 
toong, is very like unto the former, saving that the leaves thereof are cut or iagged like a man’s 
hand, or the palme and brow antles of a deare, bearing neither stalke, flower, nor seede. . . . 
[This] I founde in the garden of Master Cranwich, a chirurgion dwelling at Much-Dunmow, in 
Essex, who gave me a plant for my garden. It groweth upon Ingleborough hills, and divers 
other mountaines of the north of England.” The variety multifidum is not unfrequently met with, 
forms with fronds more or less divided at the apex being not uncommon, even in a wild 
state. In the variety polyschides the fronds are undivided, but the margins are very deeply 
