31G 



CCLXV. LYCOPODIACE.E. Tm. Glib-Moss Tribe. 



Lycopodine^, Swartz Synopsis Filicum (1806); R. Broten Prodr. 164. (1810); Agardh 

 Aph. 112. (1822); GrevUle Flor. Edin. xii. (1824) — Lycopodiace^e, Dec. Fl. 

 Fr. 2. 571. (1815) ; -Ad. Brongn. in Diet. Class. 9. 561. (1826.) 



Diagnosis. Flowerless plants, .with the sporules enclosed in axillary 

 thecee, vernation circinate. 

 Anomalies. 



Essential Character — Often moss-like plants, with creeping stems and imbri- 

 cated leaves, the axis abounding in annular ducts ; or stemless plants, with erect subulate 

 leaves, and a solid cormus. Organs of reproductimi axillary sessile theca", either bursting 

 by distinct valves, or indehiscent, and containing either minute powdery matter, or sporules, 

 marked at the apex with three minute radiating elevated ridges upon their proper inte- 

 gument. 



Affinities. Intermediate as it were between Ferhs and Coniferae on' 

 the one hand, and Ferns and Mosses on the other ; related to the first of 

 those tribes in the want of sexual apparatus, and in the abundance of annu- 

 lar ducts contained in their axis ; to the second in the aspect of the stems of 

 some of the larger kinds ; and to the last in their whole appearance, Lyco- 

 podiacese are distinctly characterised by their organs of reproduction. These 

 are generally considered to be of two kinds, both of which are axillary and 

 sessile, and have from 1 to 3 regularly dehiscing valves, the one containing 

 a powdery substance, the other bodies much larger in size, which have been 

 seen to germinate. In conformity with the theory, that all plants have 

 sexes, the advocates of that doctrine have found anthers in the former, and 

 pistilla in the latter; but, as in other similar cases, this opinion is entirely 

 conjectural, and founded upon no direct evidence: all that we really know 

 is, that the larger bodies do germinate, and, if we are to credit Willdenow, • 

 the powdery particles grow also. He says he has seen them. I think '\i is 

 hardly to be doubted that the latter are the abortive state of the former. 

 According to Salisbury, in the Linnean Transactions, vol. 12. tab. 19. 

 Lycopodiuni denticulatum emits two cotyledons upon germinating ; but, 

 supposing this observation, which requires confirmation, to be exact, it is 

 much more probable that the two little scales so emitted are primordial 

 leaves than analogous to cotyledons. The genus Isoetes is by some referred 

 to Marsileaceaj, to which it forms a transition. I follow Decandolle and 

 Brongniart in referring it here. M. Delile has published an account of the 

 germination of Isoetes setacea, from which it appears that its sporules sprout 

 upwards and downwards, forming an intermediate solid body, which ulti- 

 mately becomes the stem, or cormus ; but it is not stated whether the points 

 from which the ascending and descending axes take their rise are uniform ; 

 as no analogy in structure is discoverable between these sporules and seeds, 

 it is probable that they are not. M. Delile points out the great affinity that 

 exists between Isoetes and Lycopodium, particularly in the relative position 

 of the two kinds of reproductive matter. In Lycopodium, he says the pul- 

 verulent thecae occupy the upper ends of the shoots, and the granular thecse 

 the lower parts ; while, in Isoetes, the former are found in the centre, and 

 the latter at the circumference. If this comparison is good, it will aftbrd 

 some evidence of the identity of nature of these thecal, and that the pulve- 

 rulent ones are at least not anthers, as has been supposed ; for in Isoetes 

 the pulverulent inner theceo have the same organisation, even to the presence 

 of what has been called their stigma, as the outer granular ones; so that, 

 if Isoetes has sexes, it will offer the singular fact of its anther having a 

 stigma. 



