SCOLQPENDRIUM VULGARE, Smith 
COMMON HART’S TONGUE. 
Root — Radicles black, strong, of great length, penetrating 
deeply ; caudex tufted. 
Frond — Strap-shaped, linear, one to two feet long, in 
the ordinary state undivided ; acute at the apex, cordate 
at the base. 
Stipes — About one-third the length of the frond, of a 
brown purple color, scaly at the base. 
Venation — Veins branched directly from the main rachis, 
the branches becoming forked; each division of the fork 
becomes itself again forked, about midway between the 
rachis and the margin. 
Fructification — Placed between the outer branches of 
two sets of veins, and consisting of a linear involucre 
covering the linear mass of capsules, sometimes nearly 
occupying the breadth between the rachis and the margin, 
but never quite reaching either. Sori often alternately long 
and short. 
Habitat — Most plentiful among stones on sides of hills, 
and in woods ; generally distributed over the county. 
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