hart's-tongue

(härts′tŭng′)

An evergreen fern (Asplenium scolopendrium syn. Phyllitis scolopendrium) of northern temperate regions, having long narrow undivided fronds.

[From the shape of its fronds.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

hart's-tongue

(Plants) an evergreen Eurasian fern, Asplenium scolopendrium, with narrow undivided fronds bearing rows of sori: family Polypodiaceae

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

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Noun	1.	hart's-tongue - tropical American terrestrial fern with leathery lanceolate fronds; sometimes placed in genus Polybotrya hart's-tongue fern, Olfersia cervina, Polybotria cervina, Polybotrya cervina fern - any of numerous flowerless and seedless vascular plants having true roots from a rhizome and fronds that uncurl upward; reproduce by spores
	2.	hart's-tongue - Eurasian fern with simple lanceolate fronds Asplenium scolopendrium, Phyllitis scolopendrium, hart's-tongue fern fern - any of numerous flowerless and seedless vascular plants having true roots from a rhizome and fronds that uncurl upward; reproduce by spores Asplenium, genus Asplenium - in some classification systems placed in family Polypodiaceae

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The wagonette swung round into a side road, and we curved upward through deep lanes worn by centuries of wheels, high banks on either side, heavy with dripping moss and fleshy hart's-tongue ferns.

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Full of arching trees, draped in ivy and clad with spongy green mosses, Hart's-Tongue ferns erupt sporadically, while patches of lush, leafy Dog's Mercury lurk between the tree trunks, dappled in light.

It's only natural; FEATURE Nature's all around us... but do we really notice it in our busy lives? Nathan Bevan discovers Gwent's finest - and most unexpected - nature reserves

On chalky soils, the smooth, crinkly, green tongue-like leaves of the common hart's-tongue thrive best.