SELAGINELLA FAMILY. 503 



CXLI. SELAGINELLACE^, SELAGINELLA FAMILY. 



Low, moss-like, often creeping plants, with scale-like leaves 

 (mostly 4-rowed, the alternate rows often of smaller leaves), 

 differing from the last family chiefly in having 1-celled spore 

 cases which contain two kinds of spores (the nature of which 

 need not be explained here). (Lessons, Figs. 513-515.) One 

 genus : 

 1. SELAGINELLA. (Name a diminutive of Selago, a species of 



Lycopodiuiii.) Species over 200, the greater part tropical. 

 § 1. Native species. 



S. rup^stris, Sprius. ICxposed rocks ; a common moss-like little 

 evergreen; stems and densely tufted branches l'-2' high; leaves awl- 

 shaped, marked with a narrow furrow on the back, and tipped with a 

 minute bristly point ; spikes four-cornered. 



S. 4pus, Spring. Damp places in meadows; common, especially S.; 

 very delicate ; stems 2'-4' high, sparingly branched ; leaves 4-rowed, those 

 of the side rows spreading horizontally, scarcely 1" long, ovate with the 

 upper side larger, minutely serrulate ; intermediate ones h?Jf as large, 

 erect, very acute ; spikes 2"-6" long. Often cult, as S. densa. 



§2. Cultiriitiil. hUK<ithj tropical species, seen in conservatories; mnch 

 hnnii-ln il ; Inins nf the branches fuur-ro^oed, two side rows of spreading 

 leiirrs s(t f/pjKircuf'hj edgewise, and two upper roivs of smaller appressed 

 leaves. iSpike four-cornered, at the ends of the branchlets. 



* Stems trailing, sending out rootlets nearly up to the end. 

 S. Kraussiana, A.Br. (Lycop6dium denticulXtum of the florists.) The 

 commonest conservatory species, used for edgings, etc.; stems very long, 

 articulated IxMieath each branch ; branches distant, bearing a few short 

 forked branchlets, which are 2"-o" broad, their leaves closely placed in 

 each row ; leaves bright green, the larger ones oblong-ovate, acute, rounded 

 on the upper side, nearly straight on the lower, minutely denticulate ; 

 smaller ones with longer often reflexed points. 



* * Stems ascending, only the lower part bearing long rootlets. 

 S. Martensii, Spring. (Lycop^dium STOLONfFERiiM of florists). Stems 

 6'-10' long, nuich branched from the base ; branches bipinnate, with 

 copious branchlets 2"-8" or even 4" wide ; larger leaves crowded, 

 obliquely ovate, the upper side broadest, obtuse, entire ; smaller ones 

 ovate, with a slender often recurved point. 



* * * Stems erect, or nearly so, rooting only at the very base. 

 S. erypthropus. Spring. Stalk 2'-6' high, bright red, having a few closely 

 appressed red leaves, and bearing at the top a broad frond-like stem pin- 

 nately or pedately divided into a few 2-3 times pinnate branches, with 

 very numerous extremely crowded branchlets \"-\h" wide ; leaves closely 

 imbricated, obliquely ovate-oblong, curved upward, rather obtuse, ciliate ; 

 smaller ones ovate, with long straight points. 



» * # * Stems in a dense, nest-like tuft, not rooting ; branches often curl- 

 ing up when dry. 

 S. lepidophylla, Spring. Bird's-Nest Moss, Kesurrectiox Plant. It 

 is a nest-like ball when dry, but when moist it unfolds and displays the 

 densely 2-3-pinnate, elegant, fern-like branches radiating from a coiled- 

 up central stem ; the leaves white-margined, closely imbricated, rouud- 

 ovate, obtuse. Texas, W. and S. 



