THE BRYOLOGIST 
-s 
NOV 22 Idle 
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Vol. XVIII November, 1915 No. 6 
HEPATIGAE OF NEW MEXICO 
Paul C. Standley 
During the last few years extensive collections of phanerogamic plants have 
been made in New Mexico by Mr. E. O. Wooton and the writer for use in the 
preparation of the Flora of the state which has appeared recently. * 1 It is un- 
fortunate that more time could not be devoted to the lower cryptogams, but the 
writer nearly always collected specimens of those he came upon and often gave 
considerable time to searching specially for them. In this way there have ac- 
cumulated fairly representative collections of the parasitic fungi, lichens, and 
mosses of the state, but in the case of the hepatics results have been less fortun- 
ate. Whether this is because these plants are more- difficult of detection the 
writer does not know, but he is more inclined to believe that the hepatic flora is 
limited to a relatively small number of species and is not very abundantly repre- 
sented by individuals. During the summer of 1914 over a month was spent in 
Rio Arriba County, in northern New Mexico, during which time repeated search 
was made for hepatics, yet only three species were found, while in the same 
locality the mosses were abundant. 
The present list of seven species is absurdly short when compared with the 
list of 41 recently published for Colorado, 2 yet, in view of the fact that nothing 
has ever been written upon the New Mexican representatives of this group of 
plants, it seems worth while to record the data which have accumulated, scant 
though they may be. When the state has been explored by some one familiar 
with Hepaticae, a larger number of species will probably be discovered, but it 
is doubtful if the list will ever be a very long one. Mosses are far less abundant, 
apparently, in New Mexico than in the more eastern states, although the species 
are said to be very interesting. In the larger part of the* state, a region of arid 
or semi-arid plains, conditions are wholly unsuited to a profuse development of 
mosses and hepatics, although in the driest situations one often finds one or more 
xerophilous mosses. In the numerous mountain ranges, however, most of which 
are heavily timbered and have a moderately high rainfall, well watered as they 
are by numerous springs and small streams, there is. no obvious reason why 
these plants should not thrive. All of the species recorded in the present paper, 
with one exception, are confined to the higher mountains, where climatic and 
floristic features are similar to those of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. 
The hepatics listed have all been determined by Miss Caroline C. Haynes, 
for whose assistance the writer wishes to express his grateful appreciation. 
1 Contributions from the U. S. National Herbarium, Vol. 19. 1915. 
i Bryologist 18 : 44-47. 1915. 
The September number of The Bryologist was published October 20, 1915. 
