52 
THE PERN WORLD OF AUSTRALIA. 
and a half feet long, quarter to two inches bi'oad, slightly scabrous, 
rhachis with a narrow wing, segments very narrow ending in an 
elongated segment at the apex of from five to six inches long, the 
abbreviated ones at the base often only forming slight lobes to the 
wing of rhachis. Fronds not unfrequently forked. Sori close, 
often confluent, the wing to rhachis also often fertile, sterile fronds 
rigidly serrulate. Found on rocks at Maroochie. 
Var. media. Stipites tufted, scaly, only slightly scabrous. 
Fronds six to eighteen inches high, half to two inches broad, 
pinnate in the lower half pinnatifid in the upper ending in an 
elongated narrow apex of several inches in length ; pinn^ and 
segments remote, linear, obtuse, gradually shorter towards the base 
and towards the attenuated caudate apex. The common form near 
Brisbane, Queensland, where it is found on drier land than many 
other ferns. 
Var. caudata. Fronds often decumbent, six to eighteen inches 
long, rhachis and stipes nearly smooth flexuose, pinnate except 
near the attenuated, lanceolate apex. Pinnae membranous, oblong 
and usually biauriculate one to one and a half inch long, and three 
or four lines broad in the sterile fronds often narrowed and linear- 
lanceolate in the fertile fronds, the lower pinn^ often distant. This 
is the most general form met with in the south of Queensland, N. 
S. Wales, Victoria and Tasmania, often found on shady damp hill 
sides and borders of creeks. 
XXX. — AsPLENiuM, Linn. Splbenwort. 
Ehizome creeping, or short and thick, or rising to an arborescent 
trunk. Sori Hnear or rarely oblong on veins proceeding from the 
midrib (costa) or the base of the pinnules or on their branches. 
Indusium linear or oblong, attached along one side to the vein and 
opening along the other side. Name from A. privative, and spleen 
in allusien to some supposed medicinal qualities. 
Section I. Euasplenium. Sori linear, diverging from the 
midrib or from the petiole towards the margin, the indusium open- 
ing from the upper or inner edge outwards. 
A. nidus, Linn. Bird's-nest fern. Rhizome erect, densely 
rooting. Fronds simple entire, or rarely bifid, lanceolate, sessile or 
nearly so in large regular tufts hollowed in the centre, two to six 
feet long, four to eight inches broad, costa shining black. Veins 
numerous nearly transverse, parallel, simple or forked, connected at 
the end in an intramarginal Hue those near the base of the frond 
often of a dark color. Sori along the upper or inner side of nearly 
all the veins, near the middle of the frond and upwards, mostly 
reaching from the costa to half or three-quarters of their length. 
Found growing on rocks and scrub trees throughout Queensland 
and many parts of N. S. Wales. 
A. simplicifronds, F. v. MuelL Rhizome scaly. Fronds entire 
one to one half feet long, half to one and a half inch broad, taper- 
