Hart's-tongue Fern
Hart's-tongue Fern
Ferns & Moss
The evergreen fern with long, glossy, strap-like leaves — the only British fern whose fronds aren't feathery, often sprouting from shady walls.
💡 Fun Facts
- Unlike most ferns, its leaves aren't feathery at all — they are long, glossy, undivided straps, like green tongues.
- On the back of each frond, its spores line up in neat brown stripes arranged in a herringbone pattern.
- It stays green all year and loves damp, shady corners — you'll often find it growing straight out of old walls.
📅 Through the Year
- Leaf-out:April to June
Name Story
Asplenium scolopendrium
means “the centipede spleenwort”
a traditional storyThe idea that this fern could cure the spleen is a traditional old remedy, not something it really does.
What does its name mean?
- Asplenium — spleenwortGreek a- ‘against’ + splen ‘spleen’ — an old herbal name
- scolopendrium — centipede-likeGreek skolopendra ‘centipede’
Flip over a frond and you’ll see neat rows of brown lines underneath — they look just like the legs of a centipede all lined up, which gives the fern its species name. The ‘spleenwort’ part comes from a very old belief that the plant could cure an aching spleen.