Hart’s Tongue Fern
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Irish name: Creamh na muice fia
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Scientific name: Asplenium scolopendrium
Hart’s tongue fern is given its name because of the shape of the leaves, which resemble the deer tongue. The leaves are 60cm long and have wavy edges. It grows on limestone walls, damp ditches, hedgerows and is widespread. According to Culpeper, the 17th century botanist and physician, “Hart’s tongue fern could treat the hardness and the stoppings of the spleen and the liver, and against the heat of the liver.”