CLUB-MOSSES 165 
the base, and sometimes having one or two minute teeth at the sides. The 
capsules lie between the scales and the stem; they are of a pale yellowish- 
— green, and filled with yellow dust-like spores. 
6. Prickly Club-moss, or Mountain Moss (L. selaginoides).—Stems 
procumbent ; leaves lanceolate, acute; spikes solitary; scales egg-shaped. 
This plant is not in any degree prickly in the true sense of the word, and, 
indeed, its smaller degree of rigidity renders it less so to the touch than 
most of the species. Its stem is creeping, two or three inches long, very 
weak and slender, lying close to the ground, and repeatedly branched. The 
whole plant is covered with lanceolate delicate leaves, their margins beset 
with small spiny teeth. The fertile branches differ from the winding barren 
ones in their erect growth, the barren ones being quite trailing. The 
former have also their leaves longer and more pressed to the stalk, and 
the terminal spike of fructification is about an inch long. This is thickly 
covered with scales, pressed close to its surface, and having their edges 
jagged with spiny teeth. This is the only British species bearing both the 
kinds of fructification alluded to in the description of the genus. The lower 
scales have the pale yellow capsules seated at their base, containing three or 
four large spores, equal in size to the seeds of many flowering plants ; and 
the capsules of the upper ones contain the dust-like powder which agrees 
with the spores of the Lycopodiums in general. The spike is annual, 
decaying immediately after the dispersion of its contents. This is a more 
northern species than the last, it being generally distributed over the bogs 
and marshy grounds of Scotland and the north of England, coming only as 
far south as Lincoln, Derby and Chester. It also occurs in Wales and 
Ireland. In the Highlands of Scotland it reaches an altitude of 3,300 feet. 
Also known as Selaginella selaginoides. 
7. Fir Club-moss, Upright Fir-moss (LZ. seldgo).—Stem erect, 
with forked branches ; leaves in eight rows ; fructification axillary. This is 
among our most generally distributed Club-mosses, and is more frequent in 
this kingdom than any species except the common Club-moss. It often 
grows on the summits of lofty mountains, as on Snowdon, and on the “ dark 
brow of the mighty Helvellyn”; yet it is a common plant, too, on the heathy 
lands of lower districts. It is a moss of old repute among the Highlanders, 
Selago being the ancient name of some succulent plant, and derived, accord- 
ing to De Theis, from the Celtic sel, sight, and jach, salutary, because useful 
in complaints of the eyes. From the same root, sel, was formed Selma, the 
name of Fingal’s Hall, which corresponds to the modern name Bellevue. 
The plant is still used in the Highlands, where it is made into an irritating 
ointment, which is rubbed on the eyelids with good effect in some diseases 
of the eye, and an infusion of this Club-moss is considered by the High- 
landers a valuable medicine for several disorders; but it should be used 
with caution, for its properties are powerful, and too large a dose causes 
giddiness, and even convulsions, while it is sufficiently caustic to serve as a 
blister to the skin. It is also used in Skye and some other places, instead 
of alum, to fix the dye; and Linneus mentions that it is employed by the 
Swedes to destroy vermin. 
The Fir Club-moss is not difficult of recognition, even to the unpractised 
