American Hearts-tongue Fern

Description:

Perhaps no other plant is as dependent on the state park system as the federally threatened American hart’s-tongue fern. Although the species has a few scattered populations between Alabama and northern Michigan, most plants are restricted to Chittenango Falls and Clark Reservation State Parks. American hart’s-tongue fern fronds typically grow to be about 9” long. In a biological twist, ferns in one of the six populations at Clark Reservation State Park grow to be much larger, some exceeding one foot in length. The reasons for this variation is a subject of debate between botanists. Some experts assert that the larger fronds are the result of better growing conditions. Others surmise that the population has hybridized with a closely related but different hart’s-tongue fern relative (the European hart’s-tongue fern). Only further research will answer this biological puzzle.

Habitat:

The American Hart’s-tongue fern (Asplenium scolopendrium var. americanum) is a federally threatened plant that grows in woodlands on calcium-enriched talus slopes. In New York, it is restricted to the plunge basins of large post-glacial waterfalls. Almost all the species’ total numbers live in the Clark Reservation and Chittenango Falls State Parks.

Notes:

The information for this posting is from the New York Natural Heritage Program report "Biodiversity in New York’s State Park System Summary of Findings" by D.J. Evans & David E. VanLuven. The photo was taken by NYSOPRHP Natural Resource Steward Biologist Tom Hughes.