Selaginella Lepidophylla

This species of club moss is found in

southern California, and has remarkable hygrometric qualities. Its

natural growth is in circular roseate form, and fully expanded

when the air is moist, but rolling up like a ball when it becomes

dry. It remains green and acts in this peculiar manner for a long

time after being gathered. Of late years numbers have been

distributed throughout the country under the names of "Rose of

Jericho" and "Resurrection Plant." This is, however, quite

distinct from the true Rose of Jericho, _Anastatica

hierochuntica_, a native of the Mediterranean region, from Syria

to Algeria. This plant, when growing and in flower, has branches

spread rigidly, but when the seed ripens the leaves wither, and

the whole plant becomes dry, each little branch curling inward

until the plant appears like a small ball; it soon becomes

loosened from the soil, and is carried by the winds over the dry

plains, and is often blown into the sea, where it at once expands.

It retains this property of expanding when moistened for at least

ten years.