LYCOPODIACEAE. 



VOL. I. 



14. Lycopodium complanatum L. Trailing 

 Christmas-green. Ground-pine. Fig. 113. 



Lycopodium complanatum L. Sp. PI. 1104. 1753. 



Horizontal stems prostrate, wide-creeping, flattened 

 above, sparingly branched, with numerous erect irregu- 

 larly forked aerial stems, the branches of these broadly 

 flattened, somewhat glaucous, 2-3- forked, the divisions 

 few and somewhat apart or, more commonly, numer- 

 ous, closer, and fan-like, leafy throughout, the leaves 

 4-ranked, minute and (excepting those of the under 

 row) imbricate and strongly decurrent, those of the 

 upper row narrow and incurved, of the lateral rows 

 broad, with spreading tips, and of the under row minute, 

 deltoid-cuspidate; peduncles slender, i'-s' long, bract- 

 eate, rarely simple, usually once or twice dichotomous, 

 each branch terminating in a slender cylindric spike 

 about 9" long; sporophyls broadly ovate, acuminate. 



In woods and thickets, Newfoundland to Alaska, south 

 to North Carolina, Indiana. Minnesota and Idaho. Also 

 in Europe and Asia. Ground-cedar, Festoon-pine, Crow- 

 foot, Hogbed, Creeping Jennie. 



15. Lycopodium tristachyum Pursh. 

 Ground-pine. Fig. 114. 



L. tristachyum Pursh. Fl. Am. Sept. 653. 1814. 

 Lycopodium chamaecyparissus A. Br. in Doll, Rhein. 

 "Fl. 36. 1843- 



Horizontal stems extensively creeping i'-4' be- 

 low the surface of the ground, terete, sparingly 

 branched, with numerous erect or assurgent 

 repeatedly-forked aerial stems, the branches of 

 these glaucous, narrow, somewhat flattened, with 

 very numerous, crowded, erect divisions; ulti- 

 mate divisions leafy throughout, the leaves 

 4-ranked, minute, imbricate, appressed, strongly 

 decurrent, nearly equal and alike, those of the 

 under row scarcely differing from the others, 

 those of the lateral rows a little thicker, with 

 the tips usuall}' incurved downward ; peduncles 

 3'-S' long, bracteate, usually 2 (casually 3) times 

 dichotomous at the summit ; spike and sporophyls 

 similar to those of the preceding. 



In dryish open woods or clearings, usually in sandy 

 soil, northern Maine to Minnesota and Georgia. 

 Also in Europe. Early August. 



Family 10. SELAGINELLACEAE Underw. Native Ferns 103. 1881. 



Terrestrial, annual or perennial, moss-like plants with branching stems and 

 scale-like leaves, which are many- ranked and uniform, or 4-ranked and of two 

 types spreading in two planes. Sporanges i-celled, solitary in the axils of 

 leaves which are so arranged as to form more or less quadrangular spikes, some 

 containing 4 megaspores (megasporanges), others containing numerous micro- 

 spores (microsporanges), which develop into small prothallia, those from the 

 megaspores bearing archegones, those from the microspores antherids. 



The family consists of the following genus : 



I. 



SELAGINELLA Beauv. Prodr. Aetheog. 101. 1805. 



Characters of family. [Name diminutive of Selago, an ancient name of some Lycopodhim."] 



About 340 species, widely distributed, most abundant in the tropics. Besides the following 

 some five others occur in western North America. Type species: Lycopodium sclaginoides L. 



Stem-leaves all alike, many-ranked. 



Stems compact with rigid leaves ; spikes quadrangular. i. S. ntpestris. 



Stems slender; leaves lax, spreading: spikes enlarged, scarcely quadrangular. 2. S. sclaginoides. 

 Stem-leaves of 2 kinds, 4-ranked, spreading in 2 planes. 3. 6". apits. 



