hart's-tongue

American  

[hahrts-tuhng] / ˈhɑrtsˌtʌŋ /

Or harts-tongue

noun

1. a fern, Phyllitis scolopendrium, having long, leathery, wavy-edged leaves.

---

hart's-tongue British  

noun

1. an evergreen Eurasian fern, Asplenium scolopendrium, with narrow undivided fronds bearing rows of sori: family Polypodiaceae

---

Etymology

Origin of hart's-tongue

First recorded in 1275–1325, hart's-tongue is from Middle English hertis tonge. See hart, 's ¹, tongue

Example Sentences

There was a lining of green moss near the top, and nearer still the hart's-tongue fern.

From Jude the Obscure by Hardy, Thomas

The Lieutenant's peril, Bonne's suspense, the Abbess--all were forgotten until the moon rose above the trees and flung a chequered light on the dark moss and hart's-tongue and harebells about the lovers' feet.

From The Abbess Of Vlaye by Weyman, Stanley J.

At the top a stone railway bridge, the interstices facing the sea full of parsley fern, wild maidenhair, hart's-tongue, and a beautiful species unknown to me.

From Ireland as It Is And as It Would be Under Home Rule by Buckley, Robert John

The boys exchanged glances, and Josh stole out one hand, pulled a hart’s-tongue fern up by the roots, and, with admirable aim, pitched it so that it fell right on the sleeper’s chest.

From Will of the Mill by Fenn, George Manville

This was a wide highway, somewhat indefinite as to its edges, which were fringed irregularly with hart's-tongue and other ferns, or clumped with low brambles bearing abundant promise of a future blackberry harvest.

From The Tree of Knowledge A Novel by Reynolds, Mrs. Baillie