35 



ther, his figure being likewise that of coraplanatum. Dillenius, as re- 

 marked by Sir J. E. Smith, was well acquainted with both species, but 

 unaccountably misquotes Tragus, Gerarde, Dalechamp, and the two 

 Bauhins, under his description of L. alpinum : owing to this confu- 

 sion it is unsafe to quote any of the virtues, real or supposed, that have 

 been assigned by these patriarchs of the science to either species. 



We are informed by Sir W. J. Hooker that Lye. alpinum is used by 

 the inhabitants of Iceland as a die for their woollen cloths. " A vast 

 heap of Lycopodium alpinum lying before the priest's house drew my 

 attention, and on enquiry I found that it was used for the purpose of 

 giving their wadmal* a yellow die, which is done by merely boiling 

 the cloth in water, with a quantity of the Lycopodium and some leav^es 

 of Vaccinium uliginosum. The colour imparted by this process, to 

 judge from some cloth shown me, was a pale and pleasant, though 

 not a brilliant yellow." f 



The savin-leaved club-moss is a pretty plant, in its foliage much re- 

 sembling the savin from which it has derived its English name : it 

 retains throughout the winter a much brighter green than either of its 

 congeners : in summer the young shoots have a blue tint. According 

 to Sir W. J. Hooker it is the badge of the clan Macrae. 



The roots are tough, strong, wiry, and generally tortuous and 

 branched ; they occur at intervals varying from two to four inches, and 

 are somewhat darker in colour than those of Lye. clavatum ; they fix 

 the plant firmly to the soil. 



The stem is procumbent, extending to a great length, and throwing 

 up at short intervals clusters of branches, which, being twice or thrice 

 dichotomously divided, give the plant a densely tufted appearance : 

 the tips of the branches or divisions in each bunch or tuft are of nearly 

 equal length, the extremities tenninating on a level. When the plant 

 is about to produce seed, spikes are thrown out from the extremities of 

 these branches without any intermediate foot-stalk: the spikes are ra- 

 ther more than half an inch in length, and somewhat exceed the uu- 

 fruitful branches in thickness, and are of a paler, yellower green colour 

 than the rest of the plant : they are almost invariably in double pairs, 

 plainly exhibiting the repeatedly dichotomous division of the branches 

 which they terminate. 



The entire plant is covered with elongate, harsh, indistinctly keeled, 

 obtusely pointed leaves ; the edges of the leaves are without percepti- 

 ble teeth or serratures, and the points have no acute or filamentous 



* Wadmal is the name of the woollen cloth usually worn by the Icelanders, 

 f 'Journal of a Tour in Iceland, in the year 1809,' i. 214. 



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