The Genus Lycopodium 



open by valves. The spores are very minute, but 

 extremely numerous. Under the name of Lycopodium 

 Powder they were formerly much used in firework 

 displays on account of their inflammable nature. They 

 have also been used as a waterproof coating for pills, 

 because of their peculiarity in remaining dry when 

 exposed to a moisture-laden atmosphere. 



Clubmosses have, in the shape, size, and arrangement 

 of their leaves and in their prostrate habit of growth, a 

 strong likeness to true mosses, and to this they owe the 

 latter part of their popular name. The prefix, " club," is 

 said to be due to the resemblance of the spore-bearing 

 cone in some of the species to a club. The resem- 

 blance, however, is not a striking one. 



The British clubmosses are all included in the one 

 genus, Lycopodium^ which is the sole British repre- 

 sentative of the Clubmoss Order of plants. Lycopodium 

 (Greek lukos, "a wolf," andpous y "a foot") may be freely 

 translated as Wolf's Claw, one of the popular names 

 given to the commonest species, owing to its method of 

 branching ; but here, again, it requires a very vivid 

 imagination to see the resemblance between the forked 

 stem and a wolfs claw. 



There are only five native clubmosses found in 

 British Isles, or six, if we include the Lesser Alpine 

 Clubmoss, which, however, has now been relegated to 

 another group of plants, after having been for long 

 regarded as a Lycopodium or clubmoss. 



Our native clubmosses are mostly plants of the 



B.F. 65 9 



