46 
THE FERN WaRLD OF AUSTRALIA. 
Range and various parts of Main Range, Queensland ; also in 
numerous places in N. S. Wales, and at the Genoa, Victoria. 
P. quadriaurita, Retz. Rhizome short erect. Fronds pinnate,, 
one to three feet high. Pinnae mostly opposite, four to eight inches- 
long, regularly and deeply pinnatifid, otherwise undivided, or the 
lower ones with one or two similar secondary pinnge on the lower 
side. Pinnules or segments numerouSy broadly linear, often falcate,, 
obtuse, four to eight lines long, confluent at the base, the pinnae 
usually ending in a long Unear-lanceolate point lobed at the base. 
Sori often not reaching the base of the segment. Common on the 
ranges of tropical Queensland. 
P. tremula, R. Br. Rhizome short, thick, erect. Fronds two 
to six feet high, erect, glabrous, twice or four times pinnate, usually 
of a delicate texture, pinna3 nearly opposite. Stipites and rhachis- 
often of a rich chestnut brown. Ultimate segments linear, rather firm, 
when in fruit, quarter to one inch long, slightly decurrent, mem- 
branous flat and serrulate when barren ; veins mostly forked and 
transverse. Sori usually continuous but scarcely reaching the base 
of the segments and sometimes interrupted, at length expanded so 
as to conceal the indusium. Found on the borders of scrubs in 
many parts of Queensland, N. S. Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. 
P. aquilina, Linn. The common bracken var. esculenta is the 
form found in Australia. Rhizome long thick and creeping, often 
some distance beneath the surface. Fronds rather tall or short, 
according to quahty of soil, mostly tri-pinnate. Primary pinn£© 
distant, the lowest pair much larger and more compound than the 
rest, which gradually decrease to the apex of frond, thus giving it 
a somewhat triangular outline, at times four feet broad. Secondary 
or tertiary pinnas numerous, lanceolate, deeply j)innatifid or pinnate, 
always ending in a linear undivided obtuse segment, the lateral 
segments oblong or linear, scarcely widened at the base, but de- 
current on tlie rhachis, the costule usually raised, dilated and 
hardened with acute ciliatc edges and the under surface usually 
hairy between the costule and the sori. Sori continuous along the 
margin, the rather broad indusium really marginal, but the frond 
thickened and often minutely crenulate at the base of the indusium 
make it appear intramarginal. Common and abundant in all the 
colonies. 
P. incisa, Thunb. Bat's-wing fern. Rhizome long creeping. 
Frond one to six feet high, on stout stipites which near the base 
are often muricated, of a rich brown, often glaucous, bi-tripinnate. 
Pinnules of the barren fronds usually deeply pinnatifid, one to two 
inches long, with broad obtuse membranous lobes, the veins proceed- 
ing from the mid-rib of the pinnule, repeatedly forked in each 
lobe, the branches here and there anastomosing or all free. • In the 
fertile frond the secondary pinnae often pinnate at the base, pinnatifid 
in^ the upper part, the lower pinnules or segments with a distinct 
mid-rib and variously branched veins, the upper lobes less regularly 
veined. Sori continuous or interrupted, often neither reaching the 
