600 LYCOPODIACE^E. (CLUB-MOSS FAMILY.) 



ORDER 163. t-YCOPODIACE^]. ( CLUB-MOSS FAMILY.) 



Perennial plants, with solid branching and mostly creeping stems, 

 sparingly or thickly clothed with small, simple, sessile, awl-shaped or linear 

 leaves. Fructification consisting of 1 - 3-celled solitary spore-cases, ax- 

 illary, either along the main stem, or only in the axils of the upper and 

 mostly changed (bract-like) leaves. 



1. LYCOPODIUM, L. CLUB-MOSS. 



Sporangia of one kind, coriaceous, commonly kidney-shaped, opening trans- 

 versely into two valves and containing minute powdery spores. Perennial, 

 mostly evergreen plants ; the leaves imbricated in several or many rows along 

 the stem and branches. 



1. Sporangia borne along the stem, in the axils of uniform leaves. 



1. L. lucidulum, Michx. Stems ascending, forking, somewhat com- 

 pressed ; leaves (deep green) in several rows, linear-lanceolate, very acnte, spar- 

 ingly denticulate, spreading or reflexed. Shady woods on the mountains of 

 North Carolina, and northward. Stem 6'- 12' long. Leaves glossy. 



2. L. SelagO, L. Stems short and thick, terete, clustered, erect or ascend- 

 ing, forking ; leaves in several rows, deep green, lanceolate, acute, entire, the 

 upper erect, the lower spreading. High mountains of North Carolina, and 

 northward. Stems 3' -6' high, rigid. Leaves crowded. 



2. Sporangia in the axils of the upper leaves, forming a terminal terete bracted spike. 

 * Bracteal and stem leaves alike, spreading. 



3. L. alopecuroid.es, L. Stem thick, terete, forking near the base, re- 

 curved, and rooting at the apex, very leafy ; leaves in many rows, spreading, 

 subulate, bristly-fringed below the middle; peduncles erect, 6'- 12' high, similar 

 to the stem; spike thick, cylindrical, bristly from the spreading or recurved 

 bracteal leaves. Open pine-barren swamps, Florida to Mississippi, and north- 

 ward. Stems 1 - 1 long, pale green. 



4. L. inundatum, L. var. pinnatum. Stem rather slender, prostrate, 

 creeping, pinnately branched ; leaves linear-subulate, bristly-fringed below the 

 middle, unequal, the upper and lower ones shorter and somewhat appressed, the 

 lateral ones widely spreading; peduncle mostly solitary, erect (1 high), very 

 leafy; spike thick, cylindrical, 2' -3' long. Low pine barrens, near the coast, 

 West Florida. Stem 6'- 15' long, and, with the spreading leaves, ' wide. 



* * Bracteal leaves under than those of the stem. 

 H Leaves of the stem equal and alike. 



5. L. clavatum, L. Stem very long-, terete, creeping, with numerous 

 short and erect leafy branches ; peduncles with scattered leaves, each bearing 2 - 

 3 linear-cylindrical spikes; leaves in several rows, subulate, entire, incurved, 

 pointed, like the ovate erosely-denticulate bracts, with a spreading bristle. 

 Mountains of North Carolina, and northward. Peduncles 4' -6' long. 



