162 



THE CREEPING SELAGINELLA GROUP. 



and become fresh and green again in a few hours, a 

 fact in itself almost as marvellous as the stories told of it. 

 The plants may be thus alternately dried and relaxed 

 many times, but it should not be supposed that such 

 plants are alive and will grow. The spreading of the 

 fronds is simply due to the way in which the tissues 

 absorb water. When rooted in the soil of their native 

 home, however, they do not die during drouth, and when 

 they relax again in the rainy season new growth really 

 takes place. 



Selaginella lepidopliylla is a native of our arid South- 

 west, and there grows on the tops of the sunbaked rocks 

 in regions where rain does not fall for a year or more at 

 a time. During such periods its fronds remain com- 

 pactly folded, their colours blending with the dry earth. 

 When rain comes they at once awake and spread out in 

 bright green rosettes, appearing as luxuriant as if drouths 

 were unknown. Notwithstanding 

 the trying conditions to which 

 they are subjected, they often 

 cover considerable areas as thickly 

 as dandelions on a lawn. 



The branches, flattened dorsi- 

 ventrally, rise from a central crown 

 and produce roots only near the 

 base. They are very numerous, 

 from two to four inches long, with 

 branchlets that fork at the ex- 

 tremities in such a manner as to 

 be nearly fan-shaped. The leaves 

 are arranged in four rows as usual, those on the sides of 

 the stem being an eighth of an inch or less in length, thick, 

 oblong, minutely ciliate, and very obtuse ; those on the 



Branch of Resurrection Moss. 



