Fern Allies. 131 



CHAPTER XVII. 



FERN ALLIES. 



LYCOP0DII7MS, SELAGINELLAS, PEPPER-WORTS, HORSE- 

 TAILS, AND MOSSES. 



JOWEVEE, slightly the cultivator of ferns may- 

 be interested in their technical classification and 

 botanical affinities, it is impossible to proceed far 

 in the practice without being attracted by the beauties of 

 certain plants which are not ferns, but cousins-german 

 to them. A tuft of club moss in a marsh or of horsetail 

 in a damp and tangled hedgerow will arrest attention, 

 and the beginner may ask the question — "Is this a 

 fern?" and when assured that it is not one, will pro- 

 bably ask again, "What is it ?" In the greenhouse and 

 the stove the moss-like selaginellas, usually called lyco- 

 podiums, associate with ferns as their proper companions, 

 requiring similar treatment and being obviously allied 

 in structure and habits. On this border land there is 

 entertainment for the curious ; a knowledge of the dis- 

 tinctive character of the tribes of plants that haunt it 

 will prove, like many other kinds of knowledge, abun- 

 dantly remunerative to those who will earnestly seek it, 

 and the lover of vegetable beauty, who may be indis- 

 posed to pore over books or labour with the microscope 

 will discover here many gratifications. 



