FEKNS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 133 



lie naturally inquired into the cause of their satisfaction 

 at the appearance of the Lycopodium. They replied in 

 Canton EngHsh, " Oh ! he too muchin handsome ; he 

 grow only a leete and a leete every year, and suppose he 

 be one hundred year oula, he only so high," holding up 

 their hands an inch or two higher than the club-moss. 

 " This little plant," says Mr. Fortune, " is very pretty, 

 and naturally takes the form of a dwarf tree in minia- 

 ture, which was doubtless the reason of its being so 

 much a favourite with the Chinese, who think that a 

 tree attains its greatest beauty when its growth is 

 stunted by their ingenuity." 



2. L. anndtinum (Interrupted Club-moss). — Leaves 

 scattered, tipped with a spine, and edged with small 

 serratures ; spikes without stalks, terminal ; scales round- 

 ish, with a tapering point, membranous and jagged. 

 This plant is so local in growth that it is little known in 

 England, though found in Charnwood Forest in Leices- 

 tershire, at Rumworth Moss in Lancashire, Teesdale in 

 Durham, Bowfell in Cumberland, and Langdale in West- 

 moreland. It grows also on Glyder Vawr on Snowdon, 

 though when seen in 1836, by Mr. Wilson, it had become 

 reduced to a solitary root, and was without fructification. 

 In some districts of Scotland it is very abundant, as it is 

 in many mountainous regions, especially in the north of 

 Europe, growing on wild open places, at a great eleva- 

 tion, or in pine woods ; it is also plentiful in some parts 

 of North America. Mr. Watson describes it as pretty 

 frequent between 500 and 850 yards on the mountains 

 of Clova and the west of Aberdeenshire ; but adds, " I 

 have never seen it above 900 yards, or below 500." 



