LYCOPODIUM. 219 



LinnoBUS, used in Sweden to destroy vermin on cattle. It 

 is also employed for dyeing, and to fix the colour of woollen 

 cloths. 



Lycopodium annotinum, Linnceus. 



Interrupted Club-moss. 



A very distinct plant, easily recognized by the inter- 

 rupted leafing of its stems, the leaves being at intervals 

 much diminished in size and less spreading in their direc- 

 tion, indicating at these points where the annual growths 

 have commenced and terminated. It is also known by its 

 narrow leaves spreading out from the stem on all sides, 

 and arranged in five indistinct rows. It is a large-growing 

 species, often a foot high, with irregularly-branched stems, 

 which, after they have produced fruit-spikes, or have 

 reached an equivalent age, become depressed, rooting at 

 intervals, and producing another series of upright branches. 

 The annual increase of the stems is well marked by the 

 closer-pressed and shorter leaves which occur at the upper 

 part of each growth, and this is what gives the interrupted 

 appearance to the stems. The leaves, which do not decay 

 for several years, are linear-lanceolate in form, and have 

 their margins minutely serrulate, and their apex drawn 



