34 
The Queensland Naturalist. 
VoL. 2 
Polypodium ienellum is much more difficult to transplant, 
thougli not impossible, as its roots are almost always tangled 
up with the roots of other plants and small rocks. It would 
if successfuny grown well repay one for the trouble, as in 
its natural dwelling-place it almost completely covers the 
young trees up which it climbs with luxuriant tufts of 
glossy, dark green foliage. It is common in the scrubs 
along the Enoggera Creek, at Tweed Heads and other places. 
Polypodium prolifenim is a fern of trailing habit, and 
though perhaps less ornamental in its growth, has decidedly 
interesting features. It seems as if the parent frond (from 
which distinct young plants sprout at intervals of a few 
weeks) would keep on growing indefinitely, as my specimen 
attained a length of over eight feet, but it has no means of 
clinging to any support, and so trails along the swampy 
ground in which it grows. I have found it on the Darling 
Downs and in a creek just off the Waterworks Road. 
Ferns for hanging baskets. There are quite a number 
of ferns w^hich do w^ell in hanging baskets. One of the 
commonest of our scrub ferns is Asplenium falcatum, and 
this does well in a basket filled with peat. The best specimen 
I have ever seen was grown in this way, with the aid of a 
liberal application of sulphate of ammonia, and as a fern 
basket it would be very hard to beat. 
Gleichenia flabdlata can be growar in the same way, 
but must be always kept damp, or it will not thrive. When 
successfully grown it makes a very pretty plant. When 
transplanting it, it is necessary to remove a block of soil 
cfmtaining the roots, as if they are disturbed failure is almost 
certain. It is not uncommon in swampy forest land, and 
some good specimens were obtained by members of the Club 
at Stradbroke. 
A prettv little plant for the hanging basket is that 
commonest of all ferns, Cheilanthes temiifolia, var. Sieheri, 
which, though found in almost every paddock, or on every 
bank in Southern Queensland, is yet very coy of being 
transplanted. The only time I succeeded in growing it was 
in a basket, and it certainly w'as very beautiful. tenuifolia, 
much rarer, is just as difficult to cultivate. 
Polypodinm ri^iduliim (Rock fern) and Davallia pyxidaki 
(Hare’s foot), both grow very easily in baskets or blocks of 
peat. The former is common at the back of Mount Cootha, 
and the latter is to be found in almost every scrub. 
The Parsley Fern, Botrychium tcrnatiim, is purely a 
forest gntwing fern and needs in its native state only light 
shade, as I have found it. near to ToowTiomba, growing in 
large quantities, with scarcely any shade near it. It has a 
])retty light green leaf which very much resembles parsley, 
