602 LYCOPODIACE^. (CLUB-MOSS FAMILY.) 



2. 15. Virff inicuin, Swartz. Sterile frond sessile above the middle of the 

 stalk of the fertile one, ternate ; the short-stalked primary divisions once or twice 

 pinnate, and then once or twice pinnatifid, thin, the lobes cut-toothed towards 

 the apex, oblong; fructification mostly 2-pin nate : plant 1-2 C high, or often 

 reduced to 5' -10', when it is B. gracile, PursL Kich woods; common. 

 July, Aug. (Eu.) 



Var. ? simplex (B. simplex, Hitchcock) appears to be a remarkably de- 

 pauperate state of this, only 2'- - 5' high ; the sterile frond reduced to a single 

 short-stalked division, and simply or doubly pinnatifid, the Icbes obovate or 

 oblong, thinner, and the veins more perceptible than in the European B. Luna- 

 ria. W. New England, New York, and northward. 



2O. OPHIOGL.6SSUUI, L. ADDER'S-TONGUE. (Tab. 13.) 



Frond a naked stalk rising straight, bearing a lateral sterile portion resembling 

 in form an entire leaf with finely reticulated immersed veins, and a simple 

 terminal spike, on the edges of which the opaque and coriaceous sessile veinless 

 sporangia are closely packed, in 2 ranks, all more or less coherent together, so 

 as to appear necklace-jointed, transversely 2-valved. Spores copious, sulphur- 

 color. (Name compounded of o<jf>ts, a serpent, and -yXwo-o-a, tongue.) 



1. O. Vlllgatlim, L. Sterile frond (in the N. American form) obovate 

 or ovate with a tapering sessile base (l'-3' long), and mostly borne below the 

 middle of the stalk of the fertile spike. Bogs and meadows : not common. 

 June. (Eu.) 



ORDER 137. LYCOPODIACE^E. (CLUB-Moss FAMILY.) 



Low plants, usually of Moss-like aspect, ivith their solid and often woody 

 stems thickly clothed with sessile awl-shaped or lanceolate persistent and sim* 

 pie leaves, bearing tlie 2-4-valved spore-cases sessile in their axils; repre- 

 sented by only two genera. 



1. L,YCOP6DIU]H, L., Spring. CLUB-MOSS. (Tab. 14.) 



Spore-cases of one kind (sporangia, much like those of Ophioglossum, only 

 larger), coriaceous, flattened, usually kidney-shaped, 1-celled, opening by a trans- 

 verse line round the margin, thus 2-valved, discharging the subtile spores in the 

 form of a copious sulphur-colored inflammable powder. Perennials, with ever- 

 green 1-nerved leaves, imbricated or crowded in 4 - 16 ranks. (Name compound- 

 ed of XvKOf, a wolf, and TTOUS, foot, from no obvious resemblance.) 



$ 1. Sporangia scattered in the axils of the ordinary and uniform (dark-green ami 



shining, rigid, about 8-ranked) leaves. 



1. L.. lucidiilum, Michx. Stems thick, 2 or 3 times forked, the branches 

 ascending (6'-12' high); leaves widely spreading cr rejlexed, linear-lanceolate, 

 acute, minutely toothed. Cold, damp woods; common northward, fnd south- 

 ward along the higher Alleghanies. August. 



