THE CLUB MOSSES 105 



are thickly covered with narrow leaves, which 

 have sharp points. The fructification is pro- 

 duced in the autumn, the capsules being borne 

 between leaf -like scales at the upper part of the 

 shoot. A singular thing about the Marsh Club 

 Moss is that one end of the creeping stem is 

 always decaying, and an individual plant is 

 rarely more than a few inches in length. In 

 the winter only the growing tip of the plant 

 remains, and from this the whole of the new 

 development arises. 



The Marsh Club Moss is comparatively rare 

 in the North of England, though in the South 

 and West it is often to be found. As a rule 

 it occurs in large isolated patches, and one 

 may hunt for some distance around before 

 finding any more specimens. It likes a 

 thoroughly wet situation, and on this account 

 is soon stamped out when any schemes of 

 land drainage are undertaken. 



Lycopodium alpinum. In this case the 

 specific name is simply a reference to the fact 

 that this Club Moss grows in mountainous 

 districts. The Alpine Club Moss. 



This species has long creeping stems which 

 are rather bare of leaves. From these, how- 

 ever, spring the upright branches which are 

 thickly covered with foliage ; every one of the 

 leaves terminates in a point. The Alpine 

 Club Moss is an evergreen plant, and it is of a 

 very bright green colour. The branches which 

 bear the fertile spikes are somewhat taller 

 than the barren ones, and these are often 

 twice forked. The cone bears a number of 

 thin scales, and between each of these and 

 the stem is to be found the kidney-shaped 

 capsules. 



The Alpine Club Moss is often to be found 



