hart’s tongue spleenwort. 
291 
tish is totally different from the continental nomenclature. I am 
quite at a loss to understand the genus Scolopendriumy as esta- 
blished by Smith for two species so totally 
dissimilar that they may be said to possess 
little in common but the name of Hart’s 
Tongue ; and I consider it a usage of very 
questionable propriety to convert an esta- 
blished specific into a generic name. It ap- 
pears to me that the present species, together 
with the Portuguese Hemionitis, constitute 
a natural division of the great Linnean group 
Asplenium, which still requires a generic ap- 
pellation : in this case the original and well- 
known term Phyllitis might with propriety be 
employed, but an invincible dislike to the in- 
troduction of names, leads me for the present 
to adopt Smith’s nomenclature, protesting, 
however, against his group Scolopendrium, 
both as unnatural and ill-named. 
We learn from the herbalists that this plant 
was much in vogue as a medicine. Ray speaks 
of it favourably as an astringent, and of its 
healing powers, applied as an ointment to V U \ 
wounds and ulcers.^ Lightfoot says it is 
used by the country people in Scotland, as a 
vulnerary for burns and scalds : f and we / / \ / 
learn from the ‘ Flore Frangaise ’ that it is 
used in France as an astringent in cases of ^ 
diarrhoea and haemorrhage.]; \ 
The roots are black, stout, and very long ; 
and strong : the rhizoma is tufted, blackish, / 
scaly, and almost spherical : the young fronds 
make their appearance in April, growing in an ff\ \ 
erect position, the apex remaining circinate ; 
by degrees they become horizontal, and at 
last pendulous ; they arrive at maturity by the end of Septem 
V 
X Flor. Fran. ii. 552. 
u2 
Syn. 1 17. 
f Lightfoot, Flor. Scot. 661. 
