BRITTLE BLABBER FERN. 
73 
not be kept too damp. Mr. Newman regards the 
plant as an underground parasite. The best plan to 
secure success is to transplant the roots with a portion 
of the soil in which they are growing, or to remove 
the sod for some distance round the plant, so as not 
to disturb it. 
BRITTLE BLADDER FERN. 
CYSTOPTERIS FRAG I LIS , 
Bernhardi, Hooker and Arnott, Babington, Moore, and Newman. 
(Plate X. Fig. 3.) 
SYNONYMS. 
Cystea frcigiliS) Smith. | Cyathea fragilis , some Authors. 
Polypodium , Linnaeus. 
The whole of this genus consists of small fragile 
but beautiful and interesting ferns. They are all 
more delicate in texture than most of our native 
ferns. The generic name is derived from two Greek 
words, signifying bladder and fern, and refers to the 
form of the involucre. The present species has fronds 
from five to six inches high, growing in tufts. They 
are lanceolate and twice pinnate. The stalk is erect, 
slender, dark-coloured, and almost without scales. 
The veining in the fronds is very evident, owing to 
their delicate and almost transpaient texture. The 
mid-vein of the pinnules is somewhat winding, with a 
venule simple or divided, branching off to each lobe, 
one branch extending to the point of each marginal 
