Asplenium scolopendrium L. var. americanum (Fernald) Kartesz & Gandhi

American Hart's Tongue Fern

Herb

Perennial

Vascular

American Hart's Tongue Fern is a native evergreen herbaceous perennial in the Spleenwort family (Aspleniaceae). It is found in northeast Alabama. American Hart's Tongue Fern grows on calcareous rocks on the sides of sinkholes in shaded, cool, moist sites. It is a perennial with a fibrous root system. The stem and petioles have brown lanceolate scales with entire margins. The blade of the frond is simple and undivided, linear in outline, entire, with a cordate base. The blade is dark green in color and glossy. American Hart's Tongue Fern reproduces by forming spores. The spores are located in sporangia grouped into clusters known as sori on the lower surface of the leaf. The sori are arranged in lines perpendicular to the midrib of the leaf in the upper half of the blade. American Hart's Tongue Fern is similar to Common or European Hart’s Tongue Fern (Asplenium scolopendrium Linnaeus var. scolopendrium). American Hart's Tongue Fern differs in having smaller leaves, sori only in the upper portion of the leaf instead of the entire length, and by being a tetraploid. American Hart's Tongue Fern was listed as threatened by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on July 14, 1989. It is listed as a S1 species in Alabama (typically 5 or fewer occurrences, very few remaining individuals, acres, or miles of stream, or some factor of its biology making it especially vulnerable in the state, and globally as a G4 species (imperiled globally because of rarity (6 - 20 occurrences, or few remaining acres, or miles of stream) or very vulnerable to extinction throughout its range because of other factors).--A. Diamond

Listed as <a href=" https://ecos.fws.gov/ecp0/profile/speciesProfile?spcode=S00O">Federally Threatened</a> as of 14 Jul 1989.</a>

Native Threatened-US S1 (State Rank) G4T3 (Global Rank)

**