1910] Fernald & Bissell,— Lycopodium clavatum 51 
and less closely imbricated: the spikes solitary in all the specimens, 
and supported on a peduncle scarcely more than an inch in length.” ! 
Although the variety monostachyon was included by Macoun in his 
Catalogue of Canadian Plants in 1888, it was generally overlooked 
by American botanists until ten years ago. And though the short 
peduncles, as described by Greville & Hooker, were not matched by 
the longer peduncles of a 1-spiked plant much collected during the 
early part of the present decade in New England and eastern Canada, 
it was thought advisable to refer the eastern plant, provisionally at 
least, to var. monostachyon, and under this name it has passed in 
recent publications.” 
In a discussion of the plant, Dr. R. M. Harper, referring to the 
original description, said: „This does not exactly describe the New 
England plant, but as the original specimens came from the Rocky 
Mountains, in latitude 56°, they were probably dwarfed by the arctic- 
alpine conditions....A specimen in the herbarium of the New York 
Botanical Garden, collected by R. S. Williams near Lindeman, Yukon 
Territory, May 4, 1898, corresponds fairly well with the original 
description." ? 
Other specimens apparently similar to the original 
are cited by Harper from the Saskatchewan River and Lake Superior. 
The large amount of material accumulated since attention was 
recently called to the I-spiked plant makes it now possible to estimate 
more exactly the varietal importance of the short peduncle described 
by Greville and Hooker. In the 60 or more sheets of the 1-spiked 
plant examined we find, as already indicated by many who have 
written of the plants (though not by Greville & Hooker who had but 
a single collection), that the leaves are generally more ascending and 
appressed than in ordinary Lycopodium clavatum, and those of the 
ascending branches are slightly if at all dentate-ciliate. In the three 
sheets which have recently come to hand from the mountains of 
western Canada — specimens from the Klondyke, Yukon "l'erritory 
(MacLean) and from the Selkirk Mountains of British Columbia 
(C. H. Shaw, nos. 458 and 1078) — the peduncles vary from 0.5-2.5 
em. long and the mature spikes from 1.5-3.5 em. in length and 3-4 
mm. in thickness. Somewhat immature specimens from the south- 
1 Grev. & Hook. in Hook. Bot. Misc. ii. 375, 376 (1831). 
2 M. L. Fernald, RuHopona, iii. 169 (1901); B. L. Robinson, ibid., iii. 237 (1901); 
R. G. Leavitt, ibid., iv. 57 (1902); R. M. Harper, ibid., iv. 100 (1902). 
3 Harper, l. c. 
