122 



The writer finds no published record in regard to long-con- 

 tinued vitality of the spores of Marsilea which equals the case 

 described above, though it is more than probable that a period of 

 eighteen years does not exhaust the possibilities in the matter. 

 Failure in the experiments with spores of greater age is incon- 

 clusive as is shown by numerous failures with material of a much 

 less age. It is evident that much depends upon the collection of 

 the sporocarps at just the right stage of maturity. 



SHORTER NOTES 



A new Hemizonia from California. — Hemizonia grandi- 

 flora. Annual: stems erect, branching, 1-3.5 dm. high, glandu- 

 lar-villous and somewhat heavy-scented : leaves all sessile, the 

 lowest opposite, linear-lanceolate, acute, 8-15 cm. long, serrulate 

 and scabrous on the margins, sparsely lanate with very long ap- 

 pressed hairs, those subtending the main branches similar but 

 alternate, those of the floral branches reduced, 1-3 cm. long, ob- 

 tuse, or the longer ones acutish, glandular-pubescent : heads 

 very showy, 2.5—3 cm - broad : involucral bracts broadly lanceo- 

 late, subacute, 6—7 mm. long: rays 8—10, 10—12 mm. long, 

 7-9 mm. wide, 3-lobed to near the middle, the lobes obtuse, the 

 middle one about half as broad as the outer ones and somewhat 

 shorter, pure white or the midveins of the lobes pinkish beneath ; 

 disk corollas glabrous without, their lobes ciliate within toward 

 the apices : outer bracts of the receptacle united into a cup : 

 achenes black, very shortly stipitate, obovate, smooth, rounded 

 on the back and faintly keeled, 2.75 mm. long, 1.5- 1.75 mm. 

 broad. 



This species is closely related to H. luzulaefolia DC, but dif- 

 fers from that species in having much larger heads, involucral 

 bracts and achenes, and greener foliage. The conspicuous lanate 

 leaves are confined to the base in H. luzulaefolia, while in this 

 species they extend up on the stem and subtend the main 

 branches. Finally, H. luzulaefolia is a late summer and autumnal 

 species, while this is in full bloom in the middle of May and will 

 have fruited and gone before that species begins to flower. 



Crystal Springs Lake, San Mateo Co., California. Growing 

 on hillsides which are composed of serpentine rocks. Collected 

 by the writer (no. 2446) 11 May, 1902. LeRoy Abrams. 



