II.~CRYPTOGAMOUS or FLOWERLESS 



lascttlav CrgptBjgams. 



LYCOPODIACEJE. 



SPOR^ LYCOPODII. 



1 



Lycopodium; Semen vel SpondoB Lycopodii; F. Lycopode; 



G. Barlappsamen, Hexenmehl. 



Botanical Ovigm—Lycopodium clavahm L.— This plant, the Com- 

 moD Clubmoss, is almost cosmopolitan. It is found on hiJJj pastures and 

 heaths throughout Central and Northern Europe from the Alps and 

 Pyrenees to the Arctic reunions, in the mountains of the east and centre 

 ot Spain, throughout Kussian Asia to Amurland and Japan, m /^ortft 

 and South America, the Falkland Isles, Australia and the Cape ot Good 

 ^ope. It occurs throughout Great Britaio, but is most plentilul on tne 



1— -K^^ V'\_,«^U10 UUUU^liUUt \J 



nioors of the northern counties. 



m, ^"^ nortiiem counties. . ,, . ,^ „„„ros 



The part of the plant employed in pharmacy is the minute spores 



^^'hich, as a yellow powder, are shaken out of the ^^'^^%'^'P'^'Z\tl 

 f sporangia, growing on the inner side of the bracts covering the 

 frmt-spike. ^ ° 



The manner in which those sponB are able to reproduce the mother 

 plant IS not yet satisfactorily ascertained.' 



History—The Common Clubmoss was wen ^""''''Zrmdons^m 

 l^^fis or ifuscus clavatus, to the older 1^'''^*'' w iTof whom S 

 Tabernasmontanus, Bauhin, Parkinson and Ray, by most "^ J^^""^ ^^ 

 supposed virtues ^s a herb have been com^nem^rated JIw^o J^ t ^ 

 powder (spores) was officinal in Germany, and used ^^ ,^° JJ^^^ havS 

 «^ounds in the middle of the 17th century,^ it <J«XV S^n^^^^^ 

 been known in the English shops until a '^o^P^fJ^T^^JX d^ggi^^^ 

 It IS not included by Dale' in the list of drugs «^1^,^> ^°Tnturr! and 

 }f 1692, nor enumerated in English drug lists of the last century, 

 « never had a place in the London Pharmacopeia. 



'The few particular, ^ay be foi«d in the .= ^^^fi^l^m.^^^ 



excellent description of Lycopodium in f'ca, ed- *, l^f i^^ p. 404) 63. 68. 



