AUSTRALIAN FERNS. 57 



the pteroid character, and completely merge into Blechnum" 

 Lomaria, which is the same as Brown's Stegania, is so called 

 from loma, an edge, on account of the apparently marginal posi- 

 tion of the indusia. The fertile and sterile fronds differ very much 

 from each other in appearance, as the fertile ones are greatly 

 contracted, and the sori seem to occupy the whole of the under 

 surface. The involucre is formed by the revolution of the margin 

 of the frond, and the veins are simple or forked. L. Patersoni, 

 L. discolor (Brown's Stegania falcatd), L. lanceolata, L. fluviatilis, 

 and L. procera, are the species with which we are more imme- 

 diately concerned, although perhaps L. discolor and L. lanceolata, 

 are merely varieties of one species. L. Patersoni, has simple or 

 sometimes pinnatifid fronds, and Hooker mentions it as " one of 

 the rarest of the genus;" but this opinion was probably formed 

 from the limited number of specimens forwarded to him from 

 these colonies, as the species may be found within a few miles of 

 Sydney, in several of the gullies in the county of Camden, on the 

 Blue Mountains, the Mittagong Eange, &c. Berkeley (Int. to 

 Crypt. Bot., p. 516), mentions "that L. Patersoni, which is cul- 

 tivated at Kew, produced for years simple fronds, but at length 

 became divided." Miss Atkinson collected some fronds at the 

 Kurrajong with well-defined pinnatifid segments, and I found 

 some similar ones not far from Bent's Basin ; whilst at the Fox 

 Ground near Lane Cove, I collected specimens in three different 

 states, simple, pinnatifid, and pinnatipartite, all growing from the 

 same rhizome! The difficulty of determining species from a 

 mere inspection of dried specimens, is shown by the remark of Sir 

 "William Hooker, " The fact of L. Patersoni, bearing partially pin- 

 natifid fronds in cultivation, might throw some doubt on the vali- 

 dity of the species, at least upon the correctness of considering 

 the simple frond as the normal state of the plant." The truth is, 

 that not merely in a state of cultivation, but also in its natural 

 condition, this fern appears in three different forms, although 

 the simple form occurs the most frequently. 



L. lanceolata, which seems to pass insensibly into some forms of 

 L. attenuata and L. discolor, occurs in many creeks not far from 

 Sydney, but it varies very much in size and appearance, ranging 

 from a few inches to more than two feet in height.* Some of the 



* Mr. Parcel has lately, collected at the Fox Ground, near Lane Cove, a 

 H 



