Asplenium scolopendrium Undulatum Angustatum - Hart's Tongue Fern

Asplenium scolopendrium Undulatum Angustatum is a fern of great ornamental value. It is a particularly compact form of the species known as scolopendrium, whose entire fronds are smaller and bordered with intense undulations, giving them an almost tubular appearance. This very hardy variety forms a persistent tuft with a slightly arched habit, composed of shiny leaves, a light and vibrant green, very bright in shaded areas and during the gloomy days of winter. It appreciates the lively coolness of undergrowth and the salutary proximity of water sources, as well as the silent company of old stones with which it forms a perfect marriage.

The Hart's-tongue Fern is a perennial fern belonging to the Aspleniaceae family, native to North America, Europe, and Asia. It can be found growing on limestone soils of shaded mountain slopes, ravines, scree, or along rivers at an altitude below 1800 m (5900 ft), or even inside old wells or in the remains of shaded buildings. The Hart's-Tongue Fern is locally protected. Its vernacular name of "Hart's Tongue" is due to the resemblance of its long ribbon-like fronds to the tongue of a deer.

Anchored by a short and thick rhizome, covered with reddish-brown scales, Asplenium scolopendrium 'Undulatum Angustatum' will form a tuft about 30 cm (12 in) high and wide, which persists in winter. Its tough fronds, shorter and narrower than those of the type species, also have extremely marked undulations along the edges, almost up to the central vein. They are carried by brown and hairy petioles that bear dark scales, brown to black at the base. The reproductive cells (sori) are arranged on the lower surface of the fronds: they are blackish, large, linear, parallel to each other, and obliquely oriented relative to the rachis; they resemble a type of centipede, which gave the plant its evocative name of scolopendrium.

Asplenium scolopendrium Angustatum is splendid wherever the soil is thin but remains moist: in rockeries or on slopes under the cover of trees, in shaded beds, but always in a very well-drained soil. This peculiar fern easily establishes itself in a few centimetres (about an inch) of topsoil, clinging between the stones of a rocky scree bordering a small waterfall. But its bright foliage makes it even more precious in winter, when it covers a wall of old mossy stones, lines the interior of an ancient well, or tumbles down from a terraced garden. It excels among ivies, periwinkles, brunneras, dead nettles, and the humble fragrant coltsfoot, which accompany it with fragrance, foliage, or delicate flowering, in stark contrast to its luxuriance.