8 
1?HB FERN WORLD OF AUSTRALIA. 
Blechnum cartilagineum. Found on grassy banked creeks 
througlioiit Queensland, also in N. S. Wales and Victoria, leaves 
one or two feet long deeply divided into close tapering lobes, the 
rootstock black and rough. 
Bleclinum orientale. The leaves of this very handsome fern 
are often five or six feet high pinnate and very graceful.. It is 
usually met with in close deep gullies near running water, tropical 
Queensland. 
Aspidium molle. This lovely soft leaved pinnate fern is one of 
the most common which one meets with along watercourses in 
Queensland. 
Polypodium irioides. This iris like leaved fern forms quite a 
mai;gin to some of the rivers of Northern Queensland. 
Group III. — Epiphytes, or those Growing on Trees. 
Ophioglossum pendulum. This species, which is at once known 
by its ribbon-Hke leaves, is usually met- with growing in the old 
masses of other ferns on scrub trees throughout the colony ot 
Queensland. 
Davallia pyxidata, or hare's-foot fern, is usually met with, 
like the last, growing out of the mass formed by some other fern or 
in the forks of scrub trees ; the leaves are much divided, of a deep 
color, and of a hard gristle-like consistence. Found throughout 
Queensland and N. S. Wales. 
Vittaria elongata. This is a grass-like fern found on the 
stems of scrub trees, most abundant in the tropics, where its leaves 
often reach the length of two or three feet long, and half-an-inch 
broad, but at Maroochie the leaves are much narrower and are 
seldom more than six inches long. This fern is also found on the 
trees of the Richmond and Macleay Rivers' scrubs, N. S. Wales. 
LindsBea lanuginosa. A very showy fern, forms one of the 
largest masses of all the Epiphytes found on Queensland trees. Its 
leaves are pinnate and often three or four feet long, and when 
young covered with a soft wool. Not met with out of the tropics, 
and seldom met with in cultivation. 
Asplenium nidus.— Birds nest fern. Leaves often very long 
strap-like, the mid-rib usually dark and glossy. Very large plants 
of this fern may be met with oftentimes on rock in the close guUies 
of the Queensland ranges. The fern is also of frequent occurrence 
in N. S. Wales. ' 
Asplenium simplicifrons. Thig fern resembles th© young drawn 
up plants of the birds-nest fern, but may be distinguished by the 
absence? of the vem near tlio edge of the leaf which in tliat fern 
joins the trans?erse veivis together, Found on treeg from Backing- 
ham Bay to the Trinity Bay Banges. 
Asplenium falcatura. One of the xm^t grapefnl of ^\] the Icinda 
found on Australian scrub trees ; leaves pinnate, glossy, dark greeUj, 
often six feet long, drooping ; mostly found growing out of old masses 
of birds-nest fern. Common in scrubs from the JUa^rra^ N, S, 
Waiea* to BoQkingham Bay, Queensland, 
