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THE BRITISH CLUB-MOSSES. 



Genus XIX. LYCOPODIUM, Lwnaw. 



THE Lycopodiums, commonly called Club-mosses, are moss- 

 like plants, mostly of creeping or decumbent habit ; and 

 their stems, which consist of annular or spiral vessels inter- 

 mixed with cellular matter, are clothed with cellular leaves, 

 so placed that they overlie each other like the tiling of a 

 roof. The fructification is produced in the axils of the 

 leaves, and is in most of the species confined to the apices 

 of the branches, where it forms a cone-like head. 



The organs of reproduction at once distinguish the Club- 

 mosses from all other plants. They consist of kidney- shaped 

 spore-cases, one- to three-valved, and containing bodies 

 of two distinct kinds. One kind consists of minute pow- 

 dery matter, in the shape of smooth resinous grains, which, 

 by reason of lateral pressure, acquire the form of irregular 

 polygons. These bodies have been called antheridia by 

 some botanists, and their granular contents have been con- 



