LYCOPODIUM. 195 



autumn, is seated at the top of an erect branch-like peduncle, 

 clothed throughout with leaves of the same shape as those 

 on the horizontal stems ; the peduncle and spike are nearly 

 of equal thickness throughout, the spike about an inch 

 long, the peduncle rather more. The spike is green, and 

 is formed of narrow linear-lanceolate bracts, rather dilated 

 at the base, and sometimes having one or two shallow teeth 

 on each side. The spore-cases are in the axils of these 

 bracts, and are nearly spherical, of a pale yellowish-green, 

 containing numerous minute pale yellow sporules. 



LYCOPODIUM SELAGINOIDES, Linnaus. Prickly Club- 

 moss. 



This interesting species has a slender, procumbent, often 

 branched stem, the barren branches short and sinuous, the 

 fertile ones ascending or erect, and from two to three inches 

 high. They are clothed with lance-shaped leaves, of a deli- 

 cate texture, jagged along the margins with spiny teeth ; 

 those on the decumbent stems being shorter, as well as more 

 distant and spreading, than those of the fertile branches. 



The inflorescence, as in the other species, is a terminal 

 spike of about an inch in length, consisting of lance-shaped 

 jagged-edged bracts, larger and more closely pressed than 

 the leaves of the stem. These bracts produce from their 



