Hart's-tongue

Description

Asplenium scolopendrium, known as hart's-tongue or hart's-tongue fern (syn. Phyllitis scolopendrium) is a fern in the genus Asplenium, of the Northern Hemisphere. In North America it occurs in rare, widely scattered populations that have been given varietal status, A. scolopendrium var. americanum. Morphological differences are minor, but the North American populations are tetraploid. In the United States, A. scolopendrium var. americanum was declared endangered in 1989.[3] The reason that the European variety is relatively widespread, and the American variety a rarity, has apparently not been established. A third variety, A. scolopendrium var. lindenii, occurs in southern Mexico and Hispaniola