PERNS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 135 



This is a pretty evergreen species, of a much brighter tint 

 than any other of our Club-mosses. It grows in great 

 abundance on the grassy slopes in the hiEy and mountain- 

 ous districts of Scotland, large tracts of ground being 

 rendered of a rich green by its trailing stems. It occurs 

 in England on the mountains of Yorkshire and Cumber- 

 land, and grows in a few Welsh localities. It is found 

 at the elevation of a thousand yards on Carnedd David 

 in Carnarvonshire ; and on aU the northern mountainous 

 regions of Europe, as in Lapland, Sweden, Norway, 

 Russia, Germany, and Switzerland, it is a common 

 plant, as it also is on the high lands of Canada, Its 

 English name was given from the resemblance of its 

 branches, with the leaves pressed closely around them, to 

 those of the Savine {Juniperus Sahind). The roots are 

 very strong and wiry, and are formed of branched, 

 downy, stout fibres. The stem creeps close to the sur- 

 face of the ground, and bears, at irregular intervals, 

 several upright branches, which are repeatedly divided 

 in a forked manner, forming a close tuft, level at the 

 top, and somewhat fan-shaped. The creeping stem, 

 which is sometimes four feet long, has few leaves ; but 

 the smaller branches of the erect stems have small leaves 

 pressed closely round them. These are lanceolate and 

 pointed, the edges without serratures, and they are 

 somewhat boat-shaped, being hollowed out in front 

 v(i)iere they fit the stem. The leaves overlap each other, 

 and are in four rows, the branches having a somewhat 

 square form. Those branches bearing the spikes of 

 fructification are rather longer than the barren ones, and 

 twice forked. The scales are meijibranaceous, flat, 



