64 



The Ottawa Naturalist. 



[June 



Plants with fleshy compact stems, like Cacti, Euphorbiae, etc., or 

 with bulbous roots such as many of the Liliacew are able to 

 remain a long time in a dormant condition. This is particularly 

 the case with the Onions, the difficulty of drying which, as 

 botanical specimens, unless the bulbs are scalded at the time of 

 pressing, collectors of plants know well. Some of the plants 

 which possess this marvellous recuperative power are known as 

 Resurrection plants, though the name might imply that these 

 plants die and come to life again, which is not actually the case> 

 In the animal world this condition would be called " suspended 

 animation." This extraordinary ability of apparently coming 

 to life again, or of re-vegetating, is possessed by members o' 

 many widely divergent genera of plants; most of which grow 

 naturall}- in deserts or in arid districts, and it is easy to under- 

 stand how this exceptional power must assist in the perpetuation 

 of the species when the plants are subjected to severe, and in the 

 case of ordinary plants, fatal conditions of environment. It is 

 not our purpose, however, to discuss now this interesting phase 

 of physiological botany, but to bring before our readers brief 

 accounts of the three species most frequently spoken of under 

 the title of Resurrection plants. 



SELAGINELLA LEPIDOPHYLLA. 





This is a cryptogamous plant allied to the Lycopodiums or 

 Club-mosses. Tt is a vivid green, rosulate, branching plant, 

 covering a space on the ground of from five to eight inches in 



