114 DECUMBENT LYCOPODIUMS. 



tic, but it is too powerful to be safe. According to 

 Moore's " British Ferns " it was also used in the form of 

 an ointment as a counter-irritant. A decoction of the 

 stems is said to be used in Sweden to destroy vermin on 

 cattle. Like other species, this plant has been used for 

 dyeing and for fixing the colour of woollen goods. In 

 Ireland it is known as "Virgin Mary's furze," and in 

 Cornwall as " good-luck." According to M. W. Gorman 

 the natives of Alaska use the stems to produce a kind of 

 intoxication. 



In the United States, Lycopodiuin selago is found from 

 North Carolina to Mai^ne, Michigan, and Washington, 

 but only in the higher mountains. It extends to Alaska 

 and Greenland, being most plentiful and growing nearly 

 at sea-level in these northern countries. It is abundant 

 in northern Europe and Asia, and has been reported 

 from Australia, New Zealand, and Antarctic America. 

 Many forms of it are reported from the tropics, but these 

 are probably distinct species. 



The Bog Club-Moss. 



The club-mosses with which the average collector is 

 most familiar delight in moist spots in woodland, on 

 mountain side, or on moor, but the bog club-moss 

 (Lycopodiuin inundatiini) is so fond of moisture that 

 it frequently grows in beds of sphagnum close to the 

 trembling boggy margins of our sinall lakes and ponds, 

 its habitat alone being often sufficient to identify it. 



The stems of this species present still another depar- 

 ture from the more familiar club-moss form. They are 

 slender and threadlike, from two to eight inches long, 

 and are rooted near the base, beyond which they usually 



