DECUMBENT LYCOPODIUMS. 115 



rise clear of the earth, bending over in the form of an 

 arch to root again at the tip. The plant is therefore as 

 truly a walking club-moss as Camptosorus rhizophyllns 

 is a walking fern. In the smaller specimens the stems 

 commonly do not branch, but in the larger ones two or 

 three short branches may be produced, each of which 

 roots at the tip like the main stem. Indeed, this is their 

 only means of continuing existence, for at the end of the 

 growing season the older parts of the plant die, leaving 

 these vigorous, bud-like tips, filled with plant-food, as so 

 many points from which new stems may be produced 

 the following year. 



The leaves are from an eighth to a quarter of an inch 

 long, linear, entire, with broad bases and pointed tips, 

 and are closely crowded on all parts of the stem, though 

 owing to its horizontal position those on the under side 

 turn upward, so that all appear to grow from the upper 

 side. The fruiting parts are at the tips of separate 

 stems which are much like the main stems except that 

 they are stiffly erect. They are quite short, usually 

 under five inches high, and spring from the older parts 

 of the main stem. They are clothed with leaves similar 

 to those on the other parts of the plant, but less spread- 

 ing, and there is usually but one fruit-stem to a plant. 

 The cone of fruit is from a quarter of an inch to two 

 inches long and about twice the diameter of the stem. 

 There is no sharp line marking the separation between 

 stem-leaves and sporophylls, one almost imperceptibly 

 merging into the .other. Typical sporophylls are broad 

 and rounded at base, toothed above, and suddenly 

 narrowed to a long slender tip ; but, near the base of the 

 spike, sporangia are borne by the ordinary linear stem- 

 leaves. The sporangia approach globose in shape, and 



