188 WILD FLOWERS. 



Another species, the common club-moss, 

 {Lycopodimn clavatum,) which is a large moss 

 frequent in England, and which covers immense 

 tracts of moss land in Lapland, is used in the 

 manufacture of fireworivs.- It often grows two 

 or three feet in length, on heathy mountainous 

 lands, and its seeds are remarkably inflamma- 

 ble. It is probable that this moss will be 

 found of more service in dyeing than has hi- 

 therto been supposed ; for it has been stated 

 by a French botanist to have the property of 

 imparting a brilliant blue to woollen cloths, if, 

 afterwards, they are passed through an infusion 

 of Brazil wood. 



But though no single moss is of any very 

 great value to man, yet the mosses in general 

 are by no means useless plants. It would re- 

 flect no dishonour on their great Creator, could 

 we discern no service which they render to us, 

 and no particular purpose which they answer in 

 the economy of nature. Enough it might be 

 to claim our grateful admiration, that their soft 

 green substance adds to the smoothness of the 

 grassy path ; that their scaly stems, or their 

 small leaves, forming -little stars of verdure, 

 beautify the landscape. Enough it would be 

 that they enliven the grey stem of the old oak 

 tree, and furnish us vdth a cushioned seat at its 

 foot. But mosses perform an important part 

 in the vegetable kingdom. But for them, the 

 mountainous regions would be barren indeed ; 

 for their patches of verdure cover up the seeds 

 and roots of the Alpine flowers, and, as they 



