THE CLUB-MOSSES 161 



is very rich in species; Mr. Baker, 

 of Kew, enumerated 334 in the year 1887, and 

 later authors have estimated the number as 

 high as 500. They are graceful plants, many of 

 them very popular in greenhouses; they are 

 often confused with species of Lycopodiums, to 

 which they bear a general resemblance, though 

 very different in their life-history, and as a rule 

 more elegant in form. 



There is only one British species, Selaginella 

 spinosa, which is not uncommon on moors and 

 mountain sides. In this species all the leaves 

 are alike, as in most species of Lycopodium; in 

 Selaginella, however, it is more common for the 

 leaves to be of two kinds, the stem bearing four 

 rows, two of large leaves and two of small, the 

 smaller being on the upper surface of the stem 

 when it is a creeping one. In many species the 

 branches with their leaves are spread out in one 

 plane, the whole having much the appearance of 

 the compound frond of a Fern. 



Some species, such as the Bornean S. grandis, 

 stand upright, growing to a height of a couple 

 of feet or more, like little trees, and helping us 

 to realise, in miniature, the aspect of the giant 

 Club-mosses of the Coal-forests. Others, like 

 the S. Wildenovii of the Eastern Tropics, attain 

 a much greater size, climbing for twenty feet or 

 more over the branches of more robust plants. 



