4 SMITHSONIAN iMISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 'J2 



Mr. Johnston's notes accompanying the specimen read, " Very 

 common in rock crevices and in their shade ; Lower Sonoran Zone. 

 It is very hard to find a rock which hasn't a large colony of this at its 

 foot. It grows with Selaginella bigelovvi." 



The following additional specimens of S. eremophila, all from the 

 Colorado Desert region, are in the National Herbarium : 



California: Mountain Spring, San Diego County, alt. 900 

 meters, May 14, 1894, M earns 2)^62. Top of Granite Mountain, seven 

 miles east of Julian, April 17, 1918, Bethel. Base of San Jacinto 

 Mountain, March, 1908, Saunders. Palm Canyon, eastern base of 

 San Jacinto Mountain, March, 1919, Hall. West Canyon, Riverside 

 County, alt. 200 meters, April 18, 1907, Parish 61 11. Tahquitz, near 

 Palm Springs, December 25, 1903, Dudley. 



Selaginella eremophila is the plant of southern California (rare 

 in herbaria) which has been called S. parishii. Underwood in describ- 

 ing 6'. parishii^ however, cited three collections, two of these from 

 the Colorado Desert {Parish 1200; Saunders), and the third from 

 Zacatecas, Mexico (Pahner 306) . The California plant is specifically 

 distinct from the Mexican element, which, having been designated 

 by Underwood as the type, must bear the name 5". parishii. The 

 dissociation of Mr. Parish's name from so characteristic a species of 

 the Colorado Desert flora is especially regrettable. 



Of the species hitherto described, S. eremophila is closely related 

 only to kS. parishii, of Zacatecas, and 5". landii Greenm. & Pfeififer,' 

 of Jalisco, both of which have a very similar dorso-ventral aspect. 

 Selaginella parishii is a more lax plant, with the ultimate branches 

 2 to 3 mm. broad, and larger, narrower leaves, whose characters may 

 be summarized as follows : Leaves of the under side 2.2 to 2.5 mm. 

 long, with about 18 cilia upon each side, these oblique, 0.078 to 

 0.125 mm. long; leaves of the upper side 1.3 to 1.6 mm. long, 0.35 to 

 0.43 mm. broad, with 4 to 8 cilia on each side, these oblique, 0.06 to 

 0.09 mm. long. The sporophylls, moreover, are broadly cordate- 

 deltoid, 1.5 to 1.7 mm. long, 1.3 to 1.4 mm. broad, with 25 to 30 

 very oblique, close-set cilia on each side, those of the lower two-thirds 

 0.1 to 0.17 mm. long, forming a conspicuous fimbriate border. The 

 megaspores are pale yellow, about 0.42 mm. in diameter, and 

 delicately reticulate. 



Selaginella landii is represented in the National Herbarium by a 

 portion of the type, Barnes & Land 2024 (San Esteban Mountains, 

 32 kilometers from Guadalajara, Jalisco) and by another collection 



'Bull. Torrey Club 33: 202. igo6. 



*Ann. Mo. Bot. Gard. 5: 205. pi. u, J2. 1918. 



