102 THE TRAILING LYCOPODIUMS. 



ranean. The aerial branches with us reach a height of 

 fifteen inches to two feet and are erect or ascending. 

 At short intervals they give off whorls of spreading 

 lateral branches that are five or six inches long and 

 branch again repeatedly. There are thus formed several 

 nearly level circles of green about the main branches^ 

 after the manner of the wood horsetail. Should the 

 main branches become decumbent at base, the lateral 

 branches, near the earth, may lengthen and become 

 secondary rootstocks. The main stems and branches 

 bear large numbers of spreading leaves an eighth of an 

 inch or more long, but so slender that the stems never 

 seem to be heavily clothed. The branchlets bear great 

 numbers of similar, though shorter, spreading leaves, 

 which give the plant a soft and airy appearance. 



The catkins are very small, often no more than an 

 eighth of an inch long, and are borne at the ends of 

 the branchlets, from which they droop slightly. The 

 sporophylls are ovate, tapering to a slender point, with 

 finely ciliate margins. The plants are very fruitful, and 

 the tall stems, with their circular whorls of branches 

 covered thickly with the small cones, make a very attrac- 

 tive picture. 



Lycopodiuin cernmun is pre-eminently a tropical species. 

 It is found around the world in warm latitudes, and ex- 

 tends to Japan, Cape Colony, and New Zealand. As 

 might be supposed,, the specimens from the United 

 States are undersized plants. In favourable situations 

 it often grows to the height of six feet or more, half 

 supported by the vegetation in its vicinity. The cones 

 may also reach a length of nearly an inch. In our region 

 the plant may be looked for on moist, half-shaded banks, 

 but in the tropics it occasionally grows in drier situations. 



