100 THE TRAILING LYCOPODIUMS. 



pale ill colour, sparsely clothed with yellowish scale-like 

 leaves, and sending out roots abundantly. It creeps 

 extensively, but seldom becomes as long as the stems of 

 those species that are wholly above ground. 



The principal branches rise from two to five inches 

 above the earth before producing branchlets, and are 

 covered with many rows of curved, slender leaves each 

 about an eighth of an inch long, but decurrent upon the 

 branches in such a way as to appear much longer. Each 

 main branch produces from five to eight alternate 

 lateral branches, the lowest of which are largest and 

 again branched two or three times before the final 

 branchlets are produced. The branchlets are from half 

 an inch to two inches long, thickly set with slender, 

 almost linear, pointed leaves arranged in four rows. 



Like the other common lycopodiums this species con- 

 tinues to add to the length of the branches for several 

 years, during which the main branches continue to rise 

 and put forth other lateral branches. The first year 

 these latter are simple or slightly forked at the tips, and 

 the next year the new growth springs from these tips, 

 some producing one and some two branches. During 

 the winter the leaves become a liglit j^ellow-green in 

 colour, and the new growth, being darlc green with 

 silvery tips, is very noticeable. Branchlets as well as 

 branches are crowded, half erect, and in old specimens 

 form compact tree-like forms nearly a foot high. 



The spikes of fruit are borne singly on the tips of the 

 old branches, often as many as fifteen spikes on a 

 single main branch, though the number is usually much 

 less. The spikes are cylindrical, from half an inch to 

 two inches or more in length, and an eighth of an inch 

 in diameter. The sporophylls or scales of the spike are 



