LYCUPODIACE.E. 57 



As to ferns, so to Lvcopods, modieinal virtues liavc been ascribed. " The most 

 remarkable plant of the order is the Yatum cundenado. }'«/«/« = Great Devil and 

 (^6«(/f«rtf/o = accursed — which appears to be L. rubruin of Chainisso. Sir W. Hooker, 

 ■who calls it L. catharticiDit, states that it acts most vehemently as a purjiativc, and 

 has been administered successfully in Spanish Anu;rica in cases of Elephantiasis." 

 — Lindley. 



One of the most curious uses is that to -which the spores of L. clavatum are put. 

 In conseciuencc of their highly inflammable nature, they are used, under the name of 

 " Vegetable lirimstone," to produce stage lightning. Ajiothecarics also are said to 

 roll pills in the powder to keep them from sticking to one another. 



Lijcopudnim clavatum is a long straggling terrestrial species, common also in 

 Europe. L. jthh'umaria is an epiphyte, and may be not unfrequently seen hanging 

 from trees in shady jungles to the length of 12 to 18 inches. L. mvolccns or circinah 

 (as I take the plant to be which grows on Zwa-ga-byn) is a small, terrestrial, tufted, 

 cocspitose species, with rather rigid tripinuate branches growing round a common 

 central root. It is possessed of extraordinaiy hygrometric properties. When wet, 

 it lies expanded ; but when diy, either out of doors in the hot sun, or indoors iu a 

 dry room, it rolls itself up into a round ball. In consequence of this property, it 

 was quite an unmanageable specimen for the Herbarium, so, not being ])laeed among 

 the other species, it has been unfortunately mislaid and lost. I cannot, therefore, 

 speak positively of it, but, in appearance, it corresponds exactly to the two Hgures 

 of L. lepidophijllum of Hooker, Iconcs I'lantaruni, Vol. II. tab. clxii. and clxiii. 

 But that it is there said to be a native of Jlexico, I should have pronotmccd it 

 to be that species ; which, indeed, it may possibly be, notwithstanding the distance 

 of the two localities. 



L. CLAVATUM, L. 

 L. PHLEGMAKIA, L. 

 L. CERNUUJI, L. 



(var. curvattim, Sw. Kaniorta, ;?(/<• Kurz.) 

 L. LAXVM, Presl. Kamorta, yWc Kurz. 

 L. SdrAKROsuJl, Forster 

 L. OBTUSIFOLIUJI, llauiiltnn. 



{Ilamiltonii, Spring.) 



L. IXVOLVli^'S, Sw. 



SixAGiNixLA,' r. dc Bcauv. 



Though of the same natural order, Selagincllcr. present a totallv dill'erent ap- 

 pearance from Lijcnpodia. Instead of the hard rigid habit of the latter, they are 

 plants of a thin and delicate texture, and are distinguished by their much-branched 

 trailing stems, which are tlat, and have their innumerable small leaflets bifariously 

 disposed. Their fructification consists of axillary two- to three-valved theciV, borne 

 on terminal scaly spikes. A small and luiinteresting species, S. Bilangiri, is common 

 on wet clayey banks, and is only two or three inches long; but the larger kinds, 

 when they find a suitable habitat, form large tangled masses, and are very beautiful 

 objects. At Way-ta-nui-yaing, south-east of " The Tiiree I'agodas," 1 have waded 

 knce-decp in them. 1 am indebted for the names of the undermentioned .species 

 to ilr. Baker, of Kew, who will, I believe, shortly publish a work containing a 

 description of all the known species of Li/cupudiacea:. 



S. riKniLis, Spring. Zwa-ka-byn. 



S. ciiRVsoCAn.ox, Spr. Zwa-ka-byn. 



S. Eklaxckui,- Spr. On hanks and old Pagodas, common. 



(S. proni/oliiim, Baker. Lycopodium imbricatum, Koxb.) 



' SclnginoUa. dim. of Stingo, a name of Pliny's for some [il.int. 

 - S. tmbiiaila of Kurz's list = i'. Bilmigcri, Spr. 



