Scolopendrium, Hart's Tongue
Deers Tongue, Lingua cervina, Hemionitis, Phyllitis
Ortus Sanitatis, Meydenbach, 1491
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Dioscorides Materia Medica, Mathias, 1563
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Kurtzes Handtbuchlein, Ryff, 1599
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Two varieties of Scolopendrum
Left: Phyllitis; Right: Hemionitis
Kreutterbuch, Matthiolus, 1586
Left: Phyllitis; Right: Hemionitis
Kreutterbuch, Matthiolus, 1586
Medical Botany, Woodville, Hooker, 1832
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Alternate varieties of Hart's Tongue
Left: Finger Hart's Tongue; Right: Bastard Hart's Tongue
(Salmon, Botanologia, 1710)
Left: Finger Hart's Tongue; Right: Bastard Hart's Tongue
(Salmon, Botanologia, 1710)
Botanical name:
Scolopendrium vulgare (syn. S. officinalis, Asplenium scolopendrium)
Salmon listed several kinds of Hart Tongue:
1. Common Hart's Tongue
2. Jagged Hart's Tongue or Finger Hart's Tongue
3. Branched Hart's Tongue
4. 'Bastard Hart's Tongue', which itself has three varieties:
i. Common, True or Greater Bastard Hart's Tongue
ii. Lesser or Barren Hart's Tongue
iii. Strange Bastard Hart's Tongue
Parts used:
Leaf
All the above-mentioned varieties share common effects.
Temperature & Taste:
Cool, dry. Sweet
Classifications:
4f. SPLENETIC
Scolopendrium vulgare (syn. S. officinalis, Asplenium scolopendrium)
Salmon listed several kinds of Hart Tongue:
1. Common Hart's Tongue
2. Jagged Hart's Tongue or Finger Hart's Tongue
3. Branched Hart's Tongue
4. 'Bastard Hart's Tongue', which itself has three varieties:
i. Common, True or Greater Bastard Hart's Tongue
ii. Lesser or Barren Hart's Tongue
iii. Strange Bastard Hart's Tongue
Parts used:
Leaf
All the above-mentioned varieties share common effects.
Temperature & Taste:
Cool, dry. Sweet
Classifications:
4f. SPLENETIC
Uses:
1. Clears Heat and Damp, Opens Obstructions, Clears Melancholy:
-good for the Liver and Spleen
-pain, swelling and hardness of the Spleen (or Liver)
-very good for various obstructions of the organs
-clears Heat and Damp of the Stomach or Liver (water decoction)
-Gravel of the bladder
2. Stops Leakages:
-Diarrhea and Dysentery (since Galen)
-Spitting of Blood
-Diabetes
3. Clears Heat, Moves the Blood:
-Palpitations, Pericarditis
-Cachexia, Chlorosis
-with alcohol (decocted in wine or tincture) for Blood stagnation and Bruising
4. Resists Poison:
-decocted in wine for Snake bite (Dioscorides)
-acid (vinegar) tincture is also used
5. Strengthens the Qi:
-'one of the six mainstays for maintaining Health' (Wittich, Vademecum, New Arzneybuch, 1594)
-'Wonderfully strengthens the Viscera' ... 'strengthens the Stomach and restores the Tone of the Bowels, being depraved or hurt'. (Salmon, Botanologia, 1710)
-'Strengthens the Viscera' (Medical Botany, Woodville, Hooker, 1832)
-used for Rickets in children
6. Externally:
-externally to cleanse Wounds and Ulcers, Burns and Scalds
-bleeding gums
-distilled water fastens loose gums
DOSE:
1. Acid (vinegar) tincture is better to open obstructions
In Decoction (water or wine): 4–6 oz.
Tincture: 3–9 mls. (1–3 drams)
Acid (Vinegar) tincture: add enough to a vehicle to make it pleasantly acidic.
NOTE:
This was one of the 5 Capillary Herbs
SUBSTITUTES:
1. Ceterach and Scolopendrum were used fairly interchangeably.
2. Its use and function are similar to the other Capillary herbs, so it may be replaced with Maidenhair
1. Acid (vinegar) tincture is better to open obstructions
In Decoction (water or wine): 4–6 oz.
Tincture: 3–9 mls. (1–3 drams)
Acid (Vinegar) tincture: add enough to a vehicle to make it pleasantly acidic.
NOTE:
This was one of the 5 Capillary Herbs
SUBSTITUTES:
1. Ceterach and Scolopendrum were used fairly interchangeably.
2. Its use and function are similar to the other Capillary herbs, so it may be replaced with Maidenhair
Main Combinations:
1. Cleanse the Blood, Skin diseases, Leprosy Hart's Tongue with Fumitory, Endive, Wormwood, Dodder, Hops (as in Syrup of Fumitory Compound)
2. Pericarditis, Hart's Tongue, Calendula, Tansy, Vervain, Valerian
3. Heat of the Stomach or Liver, Hart's Tongue with Golden Seal
Major Formulas:
Syrup of Fumitory Compound (Augustana)
Syrup of Senna Comp
Syrup to Purge all Humors of Frankfurt
1. Bitter Powder:
Wormwood 3 handfuls
Blessed Thistle
Hart's Tongue
Lesser Centaury 1 handful each
Elecampane half oz.
Orris 1 oz.
Calamus half oz.
Orange peel 6 drams
Powder. (Palatine)
2. Febrifuge Decoction (Apozem)
Root of Patience 1 dram
Elecampane 2 drams
Chicory leaf
Burnet leaf 1 handful each
Hart's Tongue leaf 3
Live Crabs bruised 2
Wood Lice bruised 10–12
Camomile
Peach flowers 1 or 2 pugils
Cinchona
Rhubarb
Cascarilla 1 dram each
Water 1 pound
Boil for an hour. To be taken in 2 doses, the first with 2 oz. of Syrup of Peach flowers, the second with 1 oz. of Compound Syrup of Smallage. (Pierquin)
3. Bitter Essence:
Tansy 1 oz.
Hart's Tongue
Blessed Thistle
Lesser Centaury
Gentian
Herb Patience 3 drams each
Fresh unripe
Orange peel half oz.
Alcohol 12 oz.
Digest, express, filter.
Tonic, stomachic, carminative, anthelmintic.
Dose: 50–70 drops in wine. (Wirtemburg)
Cautions:
Very dry. Not suitable for Yin deficiency.
Main Preparations used:
Very dry. Not suitable for Yin deficiency.
Main Preparations used: