This fern is also known as Asplenium scolopendrium.
Hart’s Tongue Fern has ancient use in herbal medicine. Dioscorides wrote of this fern as “Phyllitis”:
Phyllitis sends out six or seven upright leaves similar to rumex yet somewhat longer and more flourishing, smooth on the front parts, but on the back parts having (as it were) thin little worms hanging. It grows in shady places and pleasure gardens. It is bitter to the taste and has no stalk, seed, or flower. A decoction of the leaves (taken as a drink with wine) is good for those bitten by snakes. It is helpful for four-footed beasts [veterinary] poured in through the mouth. It is taken as a drink for dysentery and diarrhoea. It is also called phyllis, acaulon, or lapathum sylvestre.
Hart’s Tongue Fern was a particular favorite of Saint Hildegard von Bingen. This very useful herb is now rare due to overharvesting. Saint Hildegard recommends it for complaints of the liver, lungs and intestines. She says that it is also good for pain in the heart and chest. This fern can be cultivated in pots.
Brother Aloysius tells us that Hart's Tongue Fern (Scolopendium vulgare) is used for liver and spleen complaints, lung and bladder complaints, blood-spitting, dysentery, gravel, scurvy and ulceration.
This Fern was much used in British herbalism, as Gerard tells us:
Kinds of Hart's-Tongue and Moon-Fern
The Description.
1. The common kind of Hart's-Tongue, called Phyillitis, that is to say, a plant consisting only of leaves, bearing neither stalk, flower, nor seed, resembling in show a long tongue, whereof it hath been and is called in shops Lingua cervina, that is, Hart's tongue: these leaves are a foot long, smooth and plain pon one side, but upon that side next the ground streaked overthwart with certain long rough marks like small worms, hanging on the back side thereof. The root is black, hairy, and twisted, or so growing as though it were wound together.
2. The other kind of Fern, called Phyllitis multfida or laciniata, that is, jagged Hart's-Tongue, is very like unto the former saving that the leaves thereof are cut or jagged like a man's hand, or the palm and brow antlers of a deer, bearing neither stalk, flower, nor seed.
3. There is another kind of Hart's-Tongue called Hemionitis, which hath bred some controversy among writers: for some have took it for a kind of Hart's-Tongue, as it is indeed; others describe it as a proper plant by itself, called Hemionitis, of Emionos, that is, Mulus, a Mule, because Mules do delight to feed thereon: it is barren in seeds, stalks, and flowers, and in shape it agreeth very well with our Hart's-Tongue: the roots are compact of many blackish hairs: the leaves are spotted on the backside like the common Hart's-Tongue, and differ in that, that this Hemionitis in the base or lowest parts of the leaves is arched after the manner of a new moon, or a forked arrow, the youngest and smallest leaves being like unto the Great Bindweed, called Volubilis.
4. There is a kind of Fern called likewise Hemionitis sterilis, which is a very small and base herb not above a finger high, having four or five small leaves of the same substance and colour, spotted on the back part, and in taste like Hart's-Tongue; but the leaves bear the shape of them of Totabona, or Good Henry, which many of our apothecaries do abusively take for Mercury: The roots are very many, smooth, black, and thready, bearing neither stalk, flower, nor seed: this plant my very good friend Mr Nicholas Belson found in a gravelly lane in the way leading to Oxhey Park near unto Watford, fifteen miles from London: it grows likewise on the stone walls of Hampton Court, in the garden of Mr Huggens, keeper of the said house or palace.
5. There is a kind of Fern called also Hemionitis, but with this addition peregrina, that is very seldom found, and hath leaves very like to Hart's-Tongue, but that it is palmed or branched in the part next the ground, almost in manner of the second Phyllitis, at the top of the leaves; otherwise they resemble one another in nature and form.
The Place.
The common Hart's-Tongue groweth by the wayside as you travel from London to Exeter in great plenty, in shadowy places, and moist stony valleys and wells, and is much planted in gardens.
The second I found in the garden of Master Cranwich a chirurgeon dwelling at Much Dunmow in Essex, who gave me a plant for my garden. Mr. Goodyer found it wild in the banks of a lane near Swanling, not many miles from Southampton.
It groweth upon Ingleborough hills, and divers other mountains of the North of England.
The Time.
It is green all the year long, yet less green in winter: in summer it now and then bringeth forth new leaves.
The Names.
Iris called in Greek and Latin Phyllitis: in shops, Lingua cervina: and falsely Scolopendria, for it differeth much from the right Scolopendria, or Stone Fern: it is called in High Dutch, Hirszong: in low Dutch, Herstonge: in Spanish, Lengua cervina: in French, Langue de Cerf: in English, Hart's-Tongue: of some, Stone Hart's-Tongue: Apuleius in his 83rd Chapter nameth it Radiolus.
The Temperature.
It is of a binding and drying faculty.
The Virtues.
A. This common Hart's-Tongue is commended against the lask and bloody flux: Dioscorides teacheth, that being drunk in wine it is a remedy against the bitings of serpents.
B. It doth open the hardness and stopping of the spleen and liver, and all other griefs proceeding of oppilations or stoppings whatsoever.
Mrs. Grieve states:
The Hart's Tongue, a fern of common growth in England in shady copses and on moist banks and walls, is the Lingua cervina of the old apothecaries, and its name refers to the shape of its fronds.
Description---Its broad, long, undivided dark-green fronds distinguish it from all other native ferns, and render it a conspicuous object in the situations where it abounds, as it grows in masses. It receives its name of Scolopendrium because its fructification is supposed to resemble the feet of Scolopendra, a genus of Mydrapods. The sori are in twin oblique lines, on each side of the midrib, covered by what looks like a single indusium, but really is two, one arranged partially over the other. In the early stages of its growth, the folding over of the indusium can be clearly seen through a lens. The fronds are stalked and the root, tufted, short and stout. This fern is evergreen and easy of cultivation.
Medicinal Action and Uses---In common with Maidenhair, this fern was formerly considered one of the five great capillary herbs.
The older physicians esteemed it a very valuable medicine, and Galen gave it in infusion for diarrhoea and dysentery, for which its astringent quality made it a useful remedy. In country districts, especially in Wales and the Highlands, an ointment is made of its fronds for burns and scalds and for piles, and it has been taken internally for Bright's Disease, in a decoction made of 2 oz. to a pint of water, in wineglassful doses. In homoeopathy, it is administered in combination with Golden Seal, for diabetes. It is specially recommended for removing obstructions from the liver and spleen, also for removing gravelly deposits in the bladder.
Culpepper tells us:
'It is a good remedy for the liver, both to strengthen it when weak and ease it when afflicted.... It is commended for hardness and stoppings of the spleen and liver, and the heat of the stomach. The distilled water is very good against the passion of the heart, to stay hiccough, to help the falling of the palate and to stay bleeding of the gums by gargling with it.'
John K’eogh wrote of the Irish tradition:
It is dry and astringent. If drunk, it will stop diarrhea and dysentery. It is also good for coughs, consumption and in opening obstructions. It is very good for hysteric and convulsive fits.
Stephen Harrod Buhner mentions Hart’s Tongue in Sacred and Healing Herbal Beers, quoting a document by John Pechet, written in 1694:
“The powder of it is of excellent use for the Palpitation of the heart, for Mother Fits, and Convulsions, being taken in small beer and Posset-drinks.”
Mr. Buhner mentions that the fern has a sweet flavor and was also used in cough syrups both for its flavor and medicinal qualities.
Plants for A Future states:
The fronds are astringent, cholagogue, diaphoretic, diuretic, expectorant, vulnerary. Externally it is used as an ointment in the treatment of piles, burns and scalds. An infusion is taken internally for the treatment of diarrhoea, dysentery, gravelly deposits of the bladder and for removing obstructions of the liver and spleen. The fronds are harvested during the summer and can be dried for later use.
Although we have found no reports of toxicity for this species, a number of ferns contain carcinogens so some caution is advisable. Many ferns also contain thiaminase, an enzyme that robs the body of its vitamin B complex. In small quantities this enzyme will do no harm to people eating an adequate diet that is rich in vitamin B, though large quantities can cause severe health problems. The enzyme is destroyed by heat or thorough drying, so cooking the plant will remove the thiaminase.
This article is an excerpt from
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Disclaimer
The information on this site is not intended to diagnose or treat any disease or condition. Nothing on this site has been evaluated or approved by the FDA. I am not a doctor. The US government does not recognize the practice of herbal medicine and their is no governing body regulating herbalists. Therefore, I'm just a guy who studies herbs. I am not offering any advice. I won't even claim that anything I write is accurate or true! I can tell you what herbs have "traditionally been used for." I can tell you my own experience and if I believe an herb helped me. I cannot, nor would I tell you to do the same. If you use any herb I, or anyone else, mentions you are treating yourself. You take full responsibility for your health. Humans are individuals and no two are identical. What works for me may not work for you. You may have an allergy, sensitivity or underlying condition that no one else shares and you don't even know about. Be careful with your health. By continuing to read my blog you agree to be responsible for yourself, do your own research, make your own choices and not to blame me for anything, ever.
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