10 
THE FERN WORLD OF AUSTRALIA. 
Botrychium ternatum. This curious plant has the same form 
of hard brittle tuberous root as the last, but the barren portion of 
its leaf resembles somewhat a leaf of parsley. The fertile portion 
is erect and would- convey to one the idea that it was the same form 
blighted. Whole plant from one to two feet high. Same range as 
last but usually met with on the small rich flats of ranges. 
Schizsea bifida. A harsh grasslike fern, leaves simply forked 
growing in dense tufts on dry forest land from N. Australia through 
Queensland, N. 8. Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. To the non- 
botanical collector the fertile portion at the tips of the divisions of 
leaves may be mistaken for a galled portion of the frond. 
Davallia dubia, which has been noticed under creekside ferns 
will often be met with in forest country, especially on hill sides 
Avhere the land is of a rich nature. 
Lindssea dimorpha. This pretty little tufted fern which so 
far as at present known is peculiar to Queensland, is usually met 
with on damp sandy soil under the shade of trees. The localities 
are Eight Mile Plains, Kedron Brook, Gympie road, and near the 
summit of one of the Glasshouse Mountains. The leaves are of 
two forms, those at the base usually sterile and only two or three 
inches long, and several in a rather dense tuft. The fertile leaves 
are much taller, often eight or nine inches high, bearing half-moon 
like leaflets. 
Lindssea microphylla. This elegant fern often forms tufts of 
its delicate much divided leaves of from a foot to two feet high on 
the sides of hills and dry creek banks in the forest country of 
Southern Queensland and N. S. Wales. 
Lindssea incisa. It would be difficult to find a more delicately 
beautiful fern than this, the hair like running stems are so matted 
together that the feather-like leaves come up close together and 
form quite a. carpet under the sheaoakes on sandy land its favourite 
habitat. Found in plenty on the Brisbane race-course. Peculiar 
to Queensland. 
Adiantum hispidulum, or rough maiden hair. A tufted pretty 
fern found commonly by the side of logs in forest country through- 
out Queensland, N. S. Wales and Victoria. 
Hypolepis tenuifolia. A tall growing fern often much branched 
forming thickets in the close gullies of the ranges both in Queensland 
and N. S. Wales. May often be mistaken for another fern 
Polypodium punctatum. 
Cheilanthes tenuifolia and its variety Sieberi are two very 
brittle ferns met with in forest country, the latter has a much 
narrower leaf and in south Queensland is the commoner of the two. 
The species is more plentiful in northern Queensland where also 
another form is met with called nudiuscula. One or other form 
of this fern is found in all the AustraKan Colonies. 
Pteris aquilina var eseulenta. The common bracken is the 
most universal of ferns, but the Australian variety is said to belong 
exclusively to the southern hemisphere. 
