Species · genus Asplenium · Aspleniaceae

Hart's-tongue Fern

Asplenium scolopendrium L.

Also known as: Hart's Tonguefern · Hart's-tongue · Hartstonque

Growth habit

perennial or rhizomatous geophyte

Native range

Alabama, Albania, Algeria, Austria, Azores, Baleares, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canary Is., Corse, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, France, Føroyar, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Khabarovsk, Korea, Kriti, Krym, Kuril Is., Lebanon-Syria, Libya, Madeira, Manchuria, Maryland, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Michigan, Morocco, Netherlands, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Caucasus, Northwest European Russia, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Ontario, Palestine, Poland, Portugal, Primorye, Romania, Sakhalin, Sardegna, Sicilia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tennessee, Transcaucasus, Tunisia, Türkiye, Türkiye-in-Europe, Ukraine, Yakutiya

Reference · A. scolopendrium

Cultivars of A. scolopendrium

The named forms growers keep — each with its own page, each honest about how much we know.

No named cultivars catalogued under A. scolopendrium yet. When growers document a stable, named form, it earns its own page here.

Guide

The species-level account. Cultivar pages build on this and say where they differ.

Hart's tongue fern is a rhizomatous, evergreen fern of cool, shaded limestone woodlands and rocky crevices across temperate Europe, North Africa, and East Asia. It wants steady, even moisture without sitting wet, so water when the top half-inch of mix begins to feel dry and keep it out of direct sun, which scorches its strap-like fronds. Give it bright shade and dependable humidity to mirror its damp, sheltered native haunts.

Care recipe

The species record — the baseline every cultivar inherits unless it says otherwise.

Care notes are early — not yet verified

Light: ai:claude-opus-4-8
Water: ai:claude-opus-4-8 (range 5-10d)
Humidity: ai:claude-opus-4-8
Soil: ai:claude-fable-5
Care: ai:claude-fable-5

Light

Medium light

Water

≈ every 10 days

Humidity

High

Temperature

5–21 °C

Soil mix

Moist, well-draining mix with added grit or limestone chips

Propagation

Spores; division

Fertilizing

Light balanced feed occasionally in the growing season

Growth rate

Slow

Flowering

Never flowers — a fern, reproduces by spores

ToxicityAuthoritative · species

Not yet documented

This is where toxicity lives — every cultivar of this species inherits it and none can override it.

Reference images

Every image credited. Licenses link to their deeds.

No reference gallery yet

A few clear photos — habit, a mature leaf, a flower if it blooms — would give this page its eyes.

Add images

Sources: ai:claude-opus-4-8 · ai:claude-opus-4-8 (range 5-10d) · ai:claude-fable-5

Kept true by its growers

Every fact here carries its source. Grow Hart's-tongue Fern yourself? What you’ve observed — how it drinks, how it holds its color, a name that’s off — is exactly what keeps this page honest. Contributions are reviewed before anything changes.