590 CRYPTOGAMIA LYCOPODIACEJE 



JU*o t L. albidulum. WiUd. £/>• 5. p. 37. (L. albidum. Muht. Catul. 

 p. 98.) Pursh, Jim. 2. p. 654. Eat. Man. p. 21 b. 

 Footless Lycopodium. 



Plant small, procumbent, or oblique, smooth and pale green,— resembling a 

 moss. Stem 1 to 2 inches long, filiform, branching. Leaves very small (less than 

 a line in length), ovate, acute, denticulate under a lens, membranaceous, alternate, 

 distichously arranged and diverging,~>vith smaller acuminatetones, mostly appree- 

 sed, on the upper side of the branches, nearly opposite the lateral ones. Spikes 

 small, terminal and sessilc,-apparcntly a mere continuation of the branches, 

 with the ca^ules in the axils'of the leaves. 

 Hub. Moist rocky shaded places : frequent. FV. July— August. 



Obs. Collected by Mr. Joshua Hoopes. On comparing this with specimens of 

 L. helveticum, received from France, I incline to think, with Dr. Deck, that they 

 are scarcely distinct. The only difference I can perceive, is in the leaves of ours 

 being rather more ovate. 



b. Capsules axillary. 

 6. L. lucidultjx, Mx. Stem assurgent, bifid, or with 2 or 3 dichot- 

 omous subdivisions ; leaves numerous, lance-lincar, acute, denticulate, 

 spreading, or reflexed. Beck, Bot.p. 461. 



Shiking Lycopodium. 



Stem 6 to 12 or 13 inches long, nearly crcct,-8ometimes decumbent, and radica- 

 ting near the base,-sparingly and dichotomously branched. Leaves 1 third to 

 half an inch long, lanco-linear, acute, denticulate, spreading, or reflexed, deep 

 shinin* green, especially those on the branches, or at and near the summit. Cap- 

 sules a little compressed, aubreniform* or semi-circular, palish-ycllow, sessile in 

 ihejixils of the leaves, about an iuch from the top of the stem, or branches ;--and 

 in interrupted series below,-being the persistent capsules of preceding years, 

 Jiab. Moist woodlands, and low grounds: frequent. Fr. July-August. 

 Obs. Seven or eight additional species arc enumerated in the U. States. 



473. ISOETES. L. jYutt. Gen. 832. 

 [Or. fee*, equal, and Btos, the year; having the same appearance all the year.] 

 Capsule membranaceous, oblong, 1-celled, not opening, imbedded m 

 the dilated base of the frond. Sporules globose, or slightly angular, at. 

 • tached to numerous filiform receptacles, which traverse the capsule. 

 1 I. ulcustris, L. Fronds cespitosc, subulate, semiterctc and ob- 

 tusely angular, dilated and imbricate at base. Beck, Bot. p. 462. 

 Lake Isoetes. Vulgo- Quill-wort. 



Root fibrous. Fronds numerous, 4 to 12 or 15 inches long, lincar-subulatc (some- 

 what resembling the leaves of a Juncus), acute, smooth, green (often whitish tow 

 ards the root), a little dilated at base, and imbricated in a|dense tuft, scmMerete 

 and angular above the base, composed of longitudinal tubes which arc jointed, or 

 interrupted by transverse partitions. Fruit in an oval-oblong whitish membran- 

 ceous indehiscent capsule, which is traversed, within, by numerous linear recep- 

 tacles, and lies imbedded in the dilated and swollen base of the frond ; sporules 

 or seeds 1 numerous, small, white, globose, reticulately cellular or honeycomb- 

 like on the surface, and marked with 2 or 3 keeMikc ridges, or angles. 

 Hab. Ponds, and shaded wet places: frequent. Fr. July-August. 



Obs. A curious little aquatic, often entirely submersed, in ponds and sluggish 

 streams. It is the only known species of the genus. 



