CHAPTER II. 
THE HARTSTONGUE. 
Scolopendrium vulgare. 
(^IMPLEST and most easily recognizable of the 
ferns of Great Britain is the Hartstongue. 
Yet it is beautiful, notwithstanding its eminently 
simple and unpretending form. Its range is wide 
indeed — almost if not quite universal throughout 
Great Britain : very plentiful in England and 
Ireland, somewhat less plentiful in Scotland, and 
fairly distributed throughout Wales. You cannot 
mistake its green tongue-shaped frond, narrow 
and tapering, simple and undivided ; sometimes 
smooth and straight, sometimes crumpled, but 
always delightfully green. The Hartstongue is 
in fact an evergreen, its new fronds starting 
into sight in April or May, and continuing to 
do so until the end of September, retaining their 
