LYCOPODIUM. 193 



erect, white in front, but afterwards become more or less 

 curved. The spikes themselves consist of crowded trian- 

 gular-ovate acuminate bracts of a pale yellow colour, and 

 having membranous serrated margins; in their axils the 

 spore-cases are produced, and these are subreniform, 

 two-valved, and filled with innumerable sulphur-coloured 

 powdery spores. The bracts become reflexed after the 

 spore-cases have shed their contents. 



This is a common species, growing in moors and heathy 

 places in mountainous and hilly tracts of country through- 

 out England, Wales, and Scotland ; and frequent, though 

 less abundant, in Ireland. 



The leafy stems of this species are used for dyeing pur- 

 poses, as well as to fix colours in the stead of alum. The 

 long slender stems, used under the name of Stages-horn 

 Moss, are formed into pretty ornaments for the decoration 

 of the houses of rustics, and for filling their fire-grates 

 during summer. Linnseus relates that in Lapland the boys 

 have their heads decorated with chaplets formed of it, 

 which the twin spikes projecting on all sides have the 

 effect of calling up the idea of groups of fauns and satyrs. 

 Indeed, the long flexible stems are not badly adapted 

 for various decorative purposes. 



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