216 
Choice Ferns for Amateurs. 
division of clumps, an operation wliicli is very 
tedious, extremely hazardous, and seldom attended 
with complete success. 
G. circinata. 
This elegant^ greenhouse species, native of Australia, 
Tasmania, New Zealand, New Caledonia, and Malacca, 
is of particularly slender habit, with short and narrow 
fronds borne on stems clothed with chaffy hairs of 
Fig. 91. Gleichenia circinata Mendelli, a compact=habited 
very elegant Fern. 
a reddish-brown colour. The lobes of their leaflets are 
ovate or nearly round, especially when fertile, more or less 
glaucous underneath, and havel their margins slightly 
rolled inwards. The sori are disposed in capsules three 
or four together, and very abundantly produced. It is 
also known as G. microphylla. Several very handsome 
forms, considered in commerce as distinct species, are 
only varieties of G. circinata. Of these the most distinct are : 
G. c. Mendelli. 
This differs from the type in being much more robust 
in growth and of a thicker texture; in fact, it is a very 
compact-habited plant (Fig. 91). The under-part of its 
