Hart's Tongues - are they edible?

[Tiley]

We've got lots of them on the wood floor at the moment. They look palatable but are they edible? Do you need to cook them? Has anyone got any preferred/recommended recipes?

Many thanks, in anticipation.

 

[match]

I've never heard of these being edible - a lot of members of the fern family taste terrible, or have carcinogenic agents.

Plants for a Future lists its edibility as 0:

http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Asplenium+scolopendrium

It also says 'few members of this genus are ever bothered by grazing deer' - implying that if the deer don't eat it, its probably no good for people!

 

[Tiley]

Thanks for that. I kind of thought that it was unpopular with your average herbivore - there's so much of it about absolutely untouched - but hoped that it might have some use, edible or otherwise.