SELAGINELLACBAB 57 



small bract-iiKB aim appressed awl-shaped leaves) bearing x Sv/igce cylindrical 

 spike. — Wet pine-barrens, N. J. to Va., and southw. 



11. L. complanktum L. Mootstock nearly superficial; stems erect, irregu- 

 larly branched or forked, the branches very flat, more or less glaucous, few- 

 forked, the divisions (0.5-1.5 dm. long, 2-4 mm. wide) erect or but slightly 

 spreading, all clothed with minute imbricated-appressed awl-shaped leaves in 4 

 ranks with decurrent adnate bases, the lateral with tooth-like tips ; peduncles 

 (about 3 cm. long) bearing 1-3 erect spikes. — Dry coniferous woods, Nfd. to 

 Me., Ida. , and Alaska. (Eurasia.) 



Var. flabellif6rme Fernald. (GROnND Pinb.) Brighter green ; the branches 

 several-forked and spreading in a fan-like manner, the terminal divisions 

 0.5-4 cm. long and 1.5-3 mm. broad ; peduncles (averaging 7 cm. long) mostly 

 4-spiked. — Dry woods, N. S. to "W". Va., Ky., la., and Minn.; common. Var. 

 ■WSbbei Haberer is a form vfith peduncles only 1-spiked. — N. Vt. and centr. 

 N. T. 



12. L. tristachyum Pursh. Very glaucous ; rooUtoch deep (5-12 cm. 

 below the surface) ; stems erect, the branches numerous, crowded, erect, 1-2 

 mm. broad ; peduncles (8-12 cm. long) with a few scattered attenuate bracts 

 and bearing 1-5 (mostly 4) spikes, (i. Chamaecyparissus A. Br. ; L. compla- 

 natum, var. Chamaecyparissus Milde.) — Dry sandy soil, n. Me. to Del., and 

 L. Superior; south w. iu the mts. to N. C. (Eu.) 



selaginellAceae 



Leafy plants, terrestrial or rooted in mud, never very large; stems branch- 

 ing; leaves small and i-Q-rowed; sporangia one-celled, solitary, axillary or 

 borne on the upper surface of the leaf at its base and enwrapped in its margins, 

 some containing large spores (macrospores) and others small spores (micro- 

 spores). The macrospores are in the shape of a low triangular pyramid with a 

 hemispherical base, and marked with elevated ribs along the angles. In ger- 

 mination they develop a minute prothallus which bears arphegonia to be fer- 

 tili^Bd by antherozoids developed from the microspores. 



1. SELAGINELLA Beauv. 



Fructification of two kinds, namely, of minute and oblong or globular spore- 

 cases, containing reddish or orange-colored powdery microspores; and of 

 mostly 2-valved tumid larger ones, filled by 3 or 4 (rarely 1-^) much larger 

 globose-angular macrospores ; the former usually in the upper and the latter in 

 the lower axils of the leafy 4-ranked sessile spike, but sometimes the two kinds 

 on opposite sides all along the spike. (Name a diminutive of Selago, an 

 ancient name of a Lycopodium, from which this genus is separated, and which 

 the plants greatly resemble in habit and foliage.) 



* Leaves all alike and uniformly imbricated ; those of the spike similar. 



1. S. selaginoides (L.) Link. Sterile stems prostrate or creeping, small and 

 slender; the fertile thicker, ascending, simple (3-8 cm. high) ; leaves lanceolate, 

 acute, spreading, sparsely spinulose-ciliate. {&'. spinosa Beauv.) — Wet places, 

 Nfd. to N. H. (Pursh), Mich., L. Superior, Col., and northw, ; rare. — Habit of 

 Lycopodium inundatum. Leaves larger on the fertile stems, yellowish-green. 

 (Eu.) 



i/2. S. rupfistris (L.) Spring. Much branched in close tufts (2-6 cm. high) ; 

 leaves densely appressed-imbricated, linear-lanceolate, convex and with a grooved 

 keel, minutely ciliate, bristle-tipped ; those of the strongly quadrangular spike 

 rather broader. — Dry and exposed rocks, somewhat local but not rare, —r 

 Grayish-green in aspect, resembling a rigid moss. (Eurasia.) 



