DECUMBENT LYCOPODIUMS. 



These are found above or below the zones of sporangia 

 and issue from the same . part of the leaf that the 

 sporangia do. Each bulblet is borne on a six-bracted 

 stalk barely a quarter of an inch long, much as the seed- 

 pod is borne in flowering plants. The bulblets are about 

 as long as their stalks and appear as two cotyledon-like 

 scales. Stalk and bulblet have been likened to small 

 plump dustpans. They may be found in their prime 



about midsummer, and by 



early autumn they have 



dropped from their stalks 



and begun to form new 



plants. They may be easily 

 |i found by searching beneath 



the old plants. The stalks 



upon which the bulblets are 

 A Bulblet. ^^Q,.j^g usually continue for a ^ ^''"^'^ Spore-case. 



long time on the plants and may often be found in 

 herbarium specimens. 



This species is sometimes called the " hemlock club- 

 moss," from the resemblance of its shiny leaves to those 

 of the hemlock tree {Tsuga Canadensis). It is also called 

 " swamp evergreen," in allusion to the moist places in 

 which it loves to dwell. It is extremely tenacious of life. 

 Specimens have been known to continue growth for a 

 year or more when placed in a vase of water in the 

 house. Most of the club-mosses are very difficult to 

 transplant, but this species takes readily to cultivation. 



A variety of club-moss has recently been described by 

 Professors Lloyd and Underwood, that differs from this 

 species only in being shorter and thicker and with 

 slightly narrower leaves. It grows in the same manner 

 as does the better-known plant, produces the same kind 



