212 CLASS CRYPTOGAMIA. 



clusters, and flowers early in the spring, before the 

 complete developement of the fronds, which are 

 smooth and simply pinnated, with the divisions pinnat- 

 ifid, the segments oblong and destitute of serratures; 

 the fruit-bearing divisions blended with those which 

 are infertile. 



The most elegant and curious Fern in the United 

 States, but everywhere uncommon, is the Lygodiuni 

 palladium-, with a long slender twining stem, and con- 

 jugate or opposite fronds, which are palmated with 5 

 entire lobes. The summit becomes a fruit-bearing 

 panicle. — The capsules are arranged in 2 series on 

 the back of appendages to the frond, and are radiately 

 striated, lined, or wrinkled, opening on the inner side 

 frome the base to the summit. There is here a scale- 

 like involucrum covering each capsule. This singular 

 and beautiful plant is met with from the neighborhood 

 of Amherst in Massachusetts to the islands of the West 

 Indies. 



The Club-moss (Lycopodium) presents distinctions 

 sufficient to entitle it to form the type of an order 

 (LycoPODiNEiE) apart from the true Ferns. We have 

 12 or more species, several of them not uncommon 

 in moist woods, beneath the shade of evergreens. 

 They send out creeping stems, at intervals giving off 

 low erect branches, clothed with evergreen, leaf-like, 

 minute, or moss-like fronds. The fructification com- 

 monly occupies a separate scaly peduncle, ending in 

 1, 2, or 3 club-shaped spikes. These capsules, ax- 

 illary, and sessile in the bosom of so many bractes 

 or scales, are 1 -celled ; some of them 2-valved, 

 and filled with a farinaceous substance ; others are 

 3-valved, containing from 1 to 6 globose bodies. 

 The pollen-like powder, or sporce, at certain seasons, 

 is so abundant as to appear like a shower of sulphur, 

 and is highly inflammable. 



