LYCOPODIACE^. (CLUB-MOSS FAMILY.) 695 



§ 2. 0SMUND6PTERIS. Base of the stalk containing the bud open along one 

 side; sterile segment membranaceous ; the cells of the epidermis fexuous. 



6. B, Virginianum, Swartz. Fronds tall and ample; sterile segment 

 sessile above the middle of the plant, ])roa(lly triangular, thin aud membrana- 

 ceous, ?e?7ia^e ; tlie short-stalked primarg divisions once or twice pinnate, and 

 then once or twice pinuatifid ; the oblong lobes cut-toothed toward the apex ; 

 veins forking from a mid vein; fertile part 2-3-pinuate. — Rich woods; com- 

 mon. — Plant 1-2° high, or often reduced to a few inches, in which case it is 

 B. gracile, PursA. June, July. (Eu.) 



2. OPHIOGLOSSUM, L. Adder's-Tongue. (PI. 20.) 



Kootstock erect, fleshy and sometimes tuberous, with slender fleshy roots 

 which are sometimes proliferous ; bud placed by the side of the base of the 

 stalk; fronds with anterior and posterior segments as in Botrychium, but 

 the coriaceous sporangia connate and coherent in tw-o ranks on the edges 

 of a simple spike. Sterile segment fleshy, simple in our species; the veins 

 reticulated. JSpores cojnous, sulphur-yellow. (Name from ocpis, a serpent, and 

 y\ua(Ta, tongue.) 



1. O. VUlgatum, L. Fronds from a slender rootstock (2-12' high), 

 mostly solitary ; sterile segment sessile near the middle of the plant, ovate or 

 elliptical (1-3' long) ; midvein indistinct or none ; veins forming small meshes 

 enclosed in larger ones. — Bogs and pastures; not common. July. (Eu.) 



Order i:J3. LYCOPODIACE^E. (Club-Moss Family.) 



Low plants, usually of moss-like aspect, wdtli elongated and often much 

 branched stems covered with small lanceolate or subulate, rarely oblong 

 or rounded, persistent entire leaves ; the sporangia 1 - 3-ceIled, solitary 

 in the axils of the leaves, or on their upper surface, when rij)e opening 

 into two or three valves, and shedding the numerous yellow s])oi-es, which 

 are all of one kind. — The Order, as here defined, consists mainly of the 

 large genus 



1. LYCOPODIUM, L. Club-Moss. (PI. 21.) 



Spore-cases coriaceous, flattened, usually kidney-shaped, 1 -celled, 2-valved, 

 mostly by a transverse line round the margin, discharging the subtile spores in 

 the form of a copious sulphur-colored inflammable powder. — Perennials, with 

 evero-reen one-nerved leaves, imbricated or crowded in 4-16 ranks. (Name 

 compounded of \vkos, a wolf and Trovs,foot, from no obvious resemblance.) 



§ 1. Spore-cases in the axils of the ordinari/ {dark gree^i and shining, rigid, 

 lanceolate, about 8-ranked) leaves. 



1. L. SelagO, L- Stems erect and rigid, dichotomous, forming a level- 

 topped cluster (3 - 6' high) ; leaves uniform, crowded, ascending, glossy, pointed, 

 entire or denticulate ; sporangia in the axils of unaltered leaves. — Mountain- 

 tops, Maine to Lake Superior, and northward. — The leaves of this and the next 

 species often bear little gemmse, with the lower bracts pointed, and the 2-3 

 uppermost broadly obovate and fleshy, as figured in 1768 by Dillenius. These 

 gemmas fall to the ground and their axis grows into the stem of a new plant, 



