Phyllitis scolopendrium (L.) Newman
Scolopendrium vulgare Sm.

Rhizome erect, short; rhizome scales clathrate. Fronds 40 x 6 cm, evergreen, monomorphic, blade/stipe ratio: 3:1 to 5:1. Stipe short, purplish-brown, continuing into the rhachis, eventually becoming green, scales narrow, pale brown. Lamina simple, lanceolate in outline, base heart-shaped, glossy, bright green, somewhat leathery, silvery scales, falling soon, margins entire, becoming undulate with age; veins free, forking, stopping short of the margin. Sori linear, paired along a vein, in the upper half of the blade; indusium thin, flap-like, opening toward the vein, whitish, on one side of the sorus.

scolopendra: centipede, alluding to the two rows of sori which resemble the feet of a centipede.

Rocky woodlands on limestone.

Central and southern Europe, east to Iran, northwestern Africa, Korea, Japan, Sakhalin, scattered populations in eastern North America.

Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Western Sahara, Tunesia.

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