602 LYCOPODIACE^. (CLUB-MOSS FAMILY.) 



2. 25. TirgSsiicnm, Swartz. Sterile frond sessile above the •middle of the 

 Btalk of the fertile one, termite ; the short-stalked primary divisions onec or twice 

 pinnate, and then onec or twice pinnatitid, thin, the lobes cat-toothed towards 

 the apex, oblong ; fructification mostly 2-pinnate : plant 1°-2 C high, or often 

 reduced to 5'- 10', when it is B. gracile, Pursh. — Rich woods; common. 

 July, Aug. (En.) 



Var. 1 simplex (B. simplex, Hitchcock) appears to be a remarkably de- 

 pauperate state of this, only 2' -5' high ; the sterile frond reduced to a single 

 short-stalked division, and simply or doubly pinnatiiid, the lebes obovate or 

 oblong, thinner, and the veins more perceptible than in the European B. Luna- 

 ria. — W. New England, New York, and northward. 



2®. OPHIOGLOSSUM, L. Adder's-Tongue. (Tab. 13.) 



Frond a naked stalk rising straight, bearing a lateral sterile portion resembling 

 in form an entire leaf with finely reticulated immersed veins, and a simple 

 terminal spike, on the edges of which the opaque and coriaceous sessile vcinless 

 sporangia are closely packed, in 2 ranks, all more or less coherent together, so 

 as to appear necklace-jointed, transversely 2-valvcd. Spores copious, sulphur- 

 color. (Name compounded of o(pt.s, a serpent, and yXwacra, tongue.) 



1. ©. vulguttim, L. Sterile frond (in the N. American form) obovate 

 or ovate with a tapering sessile base (l'-3' long), and mostly borne below the 

 middle of the stalk of the fertile spike. — Bogs and meadows: not common. 

 June. (Eu.) 



Order 137. J^YCOPODIACE^E. (Club-Moss Family.) 



Low plants, usually of Moss-like aspect, with their solid and often woody 

 stems thickly clothed with sessile awl-shaped or lanceolate persistent and sim* 

 pie loaves, bearing the 2 - 4-valved spore-cases sessile in their axils ; repre- 

 sented by only two genera. 



1. IiYCOPODIUM, L., Spring. Club-Moss. (Tab. 14.) 



Spore-cases of one kind (sporangia, much like those of Ophioglossum, only 

 larger), coriaceous, flattened, usually kidney-shaped, 1 -celled, opening by a trans- 

 verse line round the margin, thus 2-valved, discharging the subtile spores in the 

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

 green 1-nerved leaves, imbricated or crowded in 4-16 ranks. (Name compound- 

 ed of Xvkos, a wolf and ttovs, foot, from no obvious resemblance.) 



§ 1. Sporangia scattered in the axils of the ordinary and uniform (dark-green and 

 shining, rigid, about 8-rankcd) leaves. 



1. L. lucSdlllllDll, Michx. Stems thick, 2 or 3 times forked, the branches 

 p.seending (6'-12' high); leaves widely spreading or reflcxed, linear-lanceolate, 

 acute, minutely toothed. — Cold, damp woods ; common northward. August. — 

 Little bulblets form in the axils of the leaves of young shoots, Austin, Roth- 

 rock. 



