﻿Uxderwood : Selagixella rupestris axd its Allies 127 



The species as here limited may be characterized as follows : 



^ Stems creeping, 5-10 cm. long, more or less flexuous, the 

 apices ascending, subsecund, abundantly emitting roots throughout 

 their entire length ; primary branches mostly short with 3-6 

 shorter secondary ones : leaves closely imbricate, about 8 -ranked, 

 spreading at the apex of sterile stems, narrowly lanceolate, 

 0.3-0.38 mm. wide, deeply channeled dorsally, ending in a sub- 

 flexuous spinulose white awn nearly I mm. long ; margins each 

 with 6-9 slender cilia: spikes sharply quadrangular, I— 1-5 cm. 

 long, about 1 mm. in diameter ; bracts similar in texture to the 

 leaves but broader at the base, with a shorter and stouter terminal 

 awn and usually with more cilia on the margin. 



On rocks, New England and Ontario, southward throughout 

 Appalachian region, westward to Missouri, Colorado, Idaho, 



Wyoming, 

 altitude. 



xteryd 



• 



Specimens collected by Kearney in eastern Tennessee have the 

 leaves more lax, and more spreading branches, due, perhaps, to 

 growth in moister places. Specimens growing in mountain expo- 

 sures, particularly in the far West show shorter more incurved 

 sterile branches and assume generally a more compact form of 

 growth doubtless for better conserving their supply of moisture, 

 but in all other characters do not differ essentially from the more 

 typical eastern form. It will be a fortunate day when field collec- 

 tors take more time to study in the field the environment of the 

 plants they collect. 



la. y Selagixella rupestris Fendleri var. nov. 



Diners from the Eastern forms of the species in its lax 1< » 

 crowded leaves which are tipped with a shorter white awn and then- 

 margins with short denticulate cilia ; the spikes are flabby and Bex- 

 uous, and the macrospores are more coarsely areolate. 



Fendler, no. 1024, Plantae Xovo-Mexicanae. 1847; Fort 

 Collins, Colorado, C. F. Baker, no. 2. I would also refer to tins 

 variety a single sterile plant collected in the On m Mountains, 



Mexi 



- 2. Selagineixa Watsoni sp. noi 



Stems short, 4-6 cm. Ion , creeping sp ring: short benched 



rootim: throughout the entire length; leaves rather short, stout, 



i~» «"^~^» 



