NO. 5 NEW SELAGINELLAS — MAXON 7 



laxly ascending' branches, these close, usually intricate, i to 2.5 cm. 

 long, twice pinnate, the ultimate divisions 3 to 7 mm. long, oblique, 

 slender, all the parts scantily leafy ; main branches (leaves excluded) 

 about 0.6 mm. thick, tardily defoliate. Leaves uniform, rigidly as- 

 cending on all sides, subdistant, decurrent, subimbricate, 2.75 to 

 3.2 mm. long (seta included), the blades narrowly deltoid-subulate, 

 1.85 to 2.3 mm. long, 0.55 to 0.7 mm. broad at the base, long-setigerous 

 (the seta 0.7 to 0.9 mm. long, white-hyaline, slender, subflexuous, 

 serrulate-ciliate throughout, the cilia up to 0.04 mm. long) , charta- 

 ceous, inflated, concave above, broadly convex beneath, with a deep 

 median groove, very strongly glaucous, with a more or less well- 

 defined whitish-hyaline border (0.045 to 0.075 mm. broad at the 

 middle of the leaf), ciliate, the cilia 16 to 23 on each side, spreading, 

 straight or often curved, mostly 0.05 to 0.09 mm. long, the upper 

 ones distant, shorter, oblique. Spikes numerous, loosely aggregate 

 at the ends of the short apical branches, i to 2 cm. long, 1.5 to 2 mm. 

 broad, arcuate, sharply quadrangular; sporophylls laxly imbricate, 

 strongly glaucous, yellowish brown with age, 2.5 to 3 mm. long (seta 

 included), the blade narrowly ovate-deltoid, evenly long-acuminate, 

 1.9 to 2.2 mm. long, 0.85 to i mm. broad at the base, long-setigerous 

 (the seta stiff, straight, 0.6 to 0.8 mm. long, whitish, strongly 

 scabrous), carinate, with a deep dorsal groove, strongly whitish- 

 m.arginate, ciliate, the cilia 25 to 35 on each side, slightly oblique, 

 mostly 0.03 to 0.06 mm. long, the apical ones few and reduced. 

 Megasporangia few, mostly basal ; megaspores pale to bright yellow, 

 subglobose, about 0.375 n''"^- '^^ diameter, lightly reticulate on all 

 faces, the meshes broad, with low ridges ; commissural costae 

 prominent. Microsporangia very numerous; microspores bright 

 orange, about 0.033 mm. in diameter. 



Type in the U. S. National Herbarium, No. 867507, collected at 

 the west end of Ontario Peak, San Antonio Mountains, southern 

 CaHfomia, altitude about 1,800 meters, in rocky ground, March 25, 

 1918, by Ivan T. Johnston (No. 181 5). Other material, all from the 

 same range of mountains, has been examined, as follows : San 

 Antonio Canyon, in shelter of rock on the dry, open canyon floor, 

 alt. 1,725 meters, July 28, 1917, Johnston 1595; Ontario Peak, in 

 crevices of a sunny, exposed granite cliff, alt. 2,475 nieters, December 

 22, 191 7, Johnston 1807. The last-mentioned specimen is dwarfed, 

 and the leaf parts scarcely attain the size given in the description. 



Selaginella asprella is a strongly marked species, without any 

 very close relatives. Of western United States species it is related 

 only to 6'. bigelovii Underw., S. rupincola Underw., and 5^. neo- 



