85 



consisting of five distinct lobes or component parts, combined at the 

 base ; the three inner lobes are large, prominent and conspicuous, 

 even to the naked eye, [b in figures 1, 2 and 3) ; the two outer lobes 

 are very small, and may easily be overlooked, one of them is closely 

 appressed to the anterior, the other to the posterior surface of the 

 bud* These buds, which have no representatives in either of the 

 previously-described British species of Lycopodium, are truly the 

 genns of fiiture plants, as each, when mature, is detached from its 

 perichaetial socket with the slightest touch, falls to the earth, and ger- 

 minates with the greatest readiness : figure 4 represents a bud thus 

 germinating ; it is drawn from a specimen found in a state of nature. 

 From the under surface of what may be termed the collum or neck of 

 the bud, is protruded a single stout root, at first very pilose, but soon 

 becoming smoother; and in the centre of the three large lobes ap- 

 pears what might readily be mistaken for a sixth and central lobe^ but 

 which is, in reality, the undeveloped stem or ascending axis of the 

 young plant. This part is very observable in figures 3 and 4, in the 

 centre of each figure. As germination advances this axis gradually 

 becomes elongated upwards by the successive unfolding of the leaves, 

 which are spirally arranged round it. The stem in this advanced 

 state is shown at c c, in figures 1 and 2. When the leaves first unfold 

 at the apex of the stem they are erect, but soon assmne a spreading 

 direction, and finally become reflexed. 



Whether these buds remain attached to the parent plant or fall to 

 the ground, their germination proceeds in the same manner ; for when 

 grown in a closed glass case, a situation which precludes the action 

 of wind and rain, and therefore lessens the chance of their being dis- 

 lodged, the buds germinate in situ, giving to the extremity of each 

 branch a bushy and very remarkable appearance. A single bud thus 

 growing in its perichaetial socket is shown at figure 2. A plant 

 from the Titterstone Clee Hill, cultivated by Mr. Luxford in a closed 

 glass, died during the second year, leaving green and vigorous young 

 ones growing on the parent stem. Some of the gemmae were acci- 

 dentally detached when the specimen was planted in the glass about 

 twelve months ago ; these have vegetated on the surface of the soil 

 and produced young plants, one of which is now more than an inch 

 high. 



It appears to me that by these gemmae the plant is so abundantly 



* Dillenius was the first to notice these gemmae. " Eodem tempore observavi per 

 ramos praesertim superiora versus e foliorum alis, corpuscula cristata, crebra rigida e 

 sex laciniis inaequalibus composita." ' Hist. Muse' 436. 



