194 HISTORY OF BRITISH EERNS. 



LYCOPODIUM INUNDATUM, Unnaus. Marsh Club-moss. 

 (Plate XX. fig. 4.) 



This is a diminutive and common plant, very frequent 

 on moist heaths and commons in the southern parts of 

 England, less common northwards, comparatively rare in 

 Wales and Scotland, and not found in Ireland. It prefers 

 to grow on spots from which the turf has been pared. 



It is of prostrate habit, with simple stems two or three 

 inches long, growing close to the surface of the ground, to 

 which they are firmly attached by a few short stout roots. 

 They are thickly clothed with narrow linear-lanceolate 

 leaves, which have an acute point, and are entire on the 

 margin ; those on the barren horizontal stems being curved 

 upwards. The plant extends itself at the point throughout 

 the growing season, the other end meanwhile undergoing 

 a process of decay, so that in winter, when the growth is 

 arrested, the decay still going on, the living stem is mucli 

 reduced, and a small portion only remains over to produce 

 new foliage the following season. The direction of the older 

 portions may often be traced by means of a black Hue, 

 caused by the decayed matter left on the surface of the 

 soil where the stem has perished. 



The spike of fructification, which is produced towards 



