48 
THE FERN WORLD OF AUSTRALIA. 
L. vulcanica, Blume. Ehizome thick, or shortly creeping-, 
clothed with shining black hair-like scales. Fronds nnder one 
foot high, glabrous, deeply pinnatifid with numerous segments; 
those of the barren fronds lanceolate, falcate, confluent l3y their 
broad base, the lower ones, one to two inches long, three to six 
lines broad, the lowest pair scarcely smaller and sometimes re- 
flexed, the upper segments gradually diminished to short lobes. 
Segments of the fertile fronds nearly as long, under two lines 
broad except the dilated adnate base. Tasmania. The barren 
fronds collected by N. Taylor on Cape York Peninsula, in 
Queensland, and by Miss Campbell, in Gippsland, Victoria, being 
insufficient until fertile fronds are met with to determine. 
L. discolor, Willd. Rhizome caudiciform or trunk-like, erecty 
sometimes over a foot high. Fronds numerous, one to two feet 
long, pinnate or deeply pinnatifid, the rhachis and stipes glabrous 
and shining black, with scales only at the base of the stipes, lanceo- 
late in outline. Pinnules of sterile frond one and a half to three 
inches long, broadly linear or narrow-lanceolate, mostly connected 
by their dilated base, the lower ones gradually smaller and more 
distinct, veins not very conspicuous. Pinnules of the fertile fronds 
very numerous, one to three inches long, one and half to three lines 
broad. This beautiful fern is rare in Queensland, at present only 
having been met with at Maroochie and Eockingham Bay ; more 
general in N. S. Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. In South Aus- 
tralia it is found in gullies of Mount Lofty Eanges. 
L. lanceolata, Spreng. Rhizome also rising into a short trunk. 
Frond six inches to above one foot long, deeply pinnatifid or 
pinnate, the rhachis glabrous, of a pale color ; segments of the 
sterile fronds oblong or lanceolate, dilated at the base, contiguous 
and often confluent, the longer ones three-quarters to near two inches 
long and four to six lines broad, the lower one gradually smaller, 
the lowest very short and broad, texture thinner than in L. discolor. 
Segment of the fertile fronds about one inch long and one and a half 
line broad. Found in Gippsland and a few other parts of Victoria, 
and many parts of Tasmania, especially in subalpine forest ; and at 
Mount Gambler in South Australia. 
L. attenuata, Willd. Rhizome thick, creeping, densely clothed 
with long, almost hair-like brown scales. Fronds one to one and a 
half feet long, deeply pinnatifid almost pinnate from near the base. 
Segments of the barren ones lanceolate-falcate, one to two inches 
long in the centre of the frond, the lower ones gradually smaller, 
the lowest ones very short and broad, all attached by their broad base 
and mostly confluent, the rhachis glabrous or slightly scaly. Veins 
oblique from the costule, once forked. Segments of the fertile 
fronds very narrow linear, two to four inches long. Australian 
habitat Lord Howe's Island, where it seems usually found on the 
stems of tree ferns. ^ 
L. alpina, Spreng. Rhizome creeping scaly. Fronds deeply 
pinnatifid or pinnate, three to eight inches long, the rhachis and 
