198 HISTORY OF BRITISH FERNS. 



formed by an altered leaf, which, becoming somewhat 

 swollen on the outside, protrudes from its inner margin five 

 smaller lanceolate leaves or teeth, the whole being elevated 

 on a short hardened footstalk. Mr. Newman describes 

 these changed leaves as becoming transformed into irregular 

 six-cleft calyces or cups, the outermost lobe of the six being 

 longer and larger than the rest, and of the pair on each side, 

 one being generally incumbent on the other so as to nearly 

 conceal it. Within this is a whorl of five parts representing 

 a gemma, or bud; the three inner lobes of this series are 

 large and prominent, and of an ovate oblong acute form, 

 the two outer lobes are very small, scale-like, one closely 

 appressed to the anterior, the other to the posterior surface 

 of the bud. In the centre of the three inner lobes, in due 

 time, appears a thickish oblong body, which is in reality the 

 undeveloped stem, and eventually elongates, puts out small 

 leaflets, and becomes a plant. 



These buds are capable of growth either while attached to 

 their parent stem or when detached and in contact with the 

 soil ; and they appear to be the chief means of propagation 

 possessed by this species, for the statements which have 

 been made respecting the germination of the sporules of the 

 Fir Club-moss are open to much doubt. Probably it was 



