LYCOPODIACEiE. (CLUB-MOSS FAMILY.) 695 



§ 2. OSMUNDOPTERIS. Base of the stalk containing the bud open along one 

 side ; sterile se(jment membranaceous ; the cells oj' the epidermis jlcxuous. 

 6. B. Virgini^num, Swartz. Fronds tall and ample; sterile segment 

 sessile above the middle of the jjlant, l^roadly triangular, thin and membrana- 

 ceous, ternate ; tlie short-stalked primary divisions once or twice pinnate, and 

 then once or twice piunatifid ; the oblong lobes cut-toothed toward the apex ; 

 veins forking from a midvein ; fertile part 2-3-pinnate. — Hich woods; com- 

 mon. — riant 1 -2° high, or often reduced to a few inches, in which case it is 

 B. gracile, Purs/i. Juno, July. (Ku.) 



2. OPHIOQLOSSUM, L. Adder's-Toxgue. (PI. 20.) 



Kootstock erect, fleshy and sometimes tuberous, witli slender fleshy roots 

 which are sometimes j)roliferous ; buil jdaced by tlie side of the base of tlie 

 stalk; fronds with anterior and posterior segments as in Botrychium, but 

 the coriaceous sporangia coimate and coherent in two ranks on the edges 

 of a simple spike. ISterile segment fleshy, simple in our species ; the veins 

 reticulated. JSpores cojjtous, sulplmr-yellow. (Name from ti<pis, a serpent, and 

 yKHaaa, tongue.) 



1. O. vulgatum, L. Fronds from a slender rootstock (2-12' high), 

 mostly solitary ; sterile segment sessile near the middle of the plant, ovate or 

 elliptical (1-3' long) ; midvein indistinct or none ; veins forming small meshes 

 enclosed in larger ones. — Bogs and pastures; not common. July. (Eu.j 



Order 133. LYCOPODlACE^E. (Club-Moss Family.) 



Low plants, usually of moss-like aspect, with elongated and often much 

 branched stems covered with small lanceolate or subulate, rarely oblong 

 or rounded, persistent entire leaves ; the sporangia 1 - 3-celled, solitary 

 in the axil? of the leaves, or on their upper surface, when rijie opening 

 into two or three valves, and shedding the nmnerous yellow sj)ores, which 

 are all of one kind. — The Order, as here defined, consists mainly of the 

 large genus 



1. LYCO PODIUM, L. Club-Moss. (PI. 21.) 



Spore-cases coriaceous, flattened, usually kidney-sliapcd, 1 -celled, 2-valved, 

 mostly by a transverse line round the margin, discharging the subtile spores in 

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

 evergreen one-nerved leaves, imbricated or crowded in 4-16 ranks. (Name 

 compounded of \vkos, a wolf, and irov5,foot, from no obvious resemblance.) 



§ 1. Spore-cases in the axils of the ordinarg {dark green and shining, rigid, 

 lanceolate, about S-ranked) leaves. 



1. L. Sel^gO, L. Stems erect and rigid, dichotomous, forming a level- 

 topped cluster (.'3 - 6' high) ; leaves uniform, crowded, ascending, glossy, pointed, 

 entire or denticulate'^ sporangia in the axils of unaltered leaves. — Mountain- 

 tops, Maine to Lake Superior, and northward. — The leaves of this and the next 

 species often bear little gemmai, with the lower bracts pointed, and the 2 -.3 

 uppermo.st broadly obovate and fleshy, as figured in 1768 by Dillenius. These 

 gemmae fall to the ground and their axis grows into the stem of a new plant, 



