LYCOPODIACE^E. (CLUB-MOSS FAMILY.) 673 



1. LYCOPODIUM, L., Spring. Club-Moss. (PL 20.) 



Spore-cases all of one kind (much like those of Ophioglossum, only larger), 

 coriaceous, flattened, usually kidney-shaped, 1-celled, 2-valved, mostly by a 

 transverse line round the margin, discharging the subtile spores in the form of a 

 copious sulphur-colored inflammable powder. — Perennials, with evergreen one- 

 nerved leaves, imbricated or crowded in 4-16 ranks. (Name compounded of 

 \vkos, a wolf, and jrov$,foot, from no obvious resemblance.) 



§ 1 . Spore-cases in the axils of the ordinary and uniform {dark-green and shining, 

 rigid, lanceolate, spreading, about 8-ranked) leaves. 



1 . L. lucidlllum, Michx. Stems thick, 2 or 3 times forked, the branches 

 ascending (6'- 12' high) ; leaves widely spreading or reflexed, acute, minutely toothed. 

 — Cold, damp woods : common northward. Aug. — Little bulblets form in the 

 axils of the leaves of young shoots (Austin, Rothrock). 



2. L. SelagO, L. Stems thick and rigid, erect, fork-branched, forming a 

 level topped cluster (3' -6' high) : leaves pointed, entire. — Tops of high moun- 

 tains, Maine to New York, on the Alleghanies southward, shore of Lake Supe- 

 rior, and northward : rare : both the variety with more erect, and that with 

 widely spreading leaves. (Eu.) 



§ 2. Spore<ases only in the axils of the upper (bracteal) leaves, thus forming a spike. 



* Leaves of the creeping sterile and of the upright fertile stems or branches, and those 



of the simple spike all alike, many-ranked (sporangia opening near the base). 



3. L. inundatum, L. Dwarf; creeping sterile stems forking, flaccid; 

 the fertile solitary (l'-4' high), bearing a short thick spike; leaves lanceolate or 

 lance-awl-shaped, acute, soft, spreading, naked, or sometimes bearing a few minute 

 spiny teeth. — Leaves (curving upwards on the prostrate shoots) narrower in the 

 American than in the European plant (perhaps a distinct species), and passing 

 into the var. Bigelovii, Tuckerm., which has fertile steins 5' -7' high, its 

 leaves more awl-shaped and pointed, sparser and more upright, often somewhat 

 teeth-bearing. (L. Carolinianum, Bigel., not of L. ) — Sandy bogs, northward : 

 rare: the var. E. New England to New Jersey and southward. Aug. (Eu.) 



4. L. alopecuroides, L. Stems stout, very densely leafy throughout; 

 the sterile branches recurved-procumbent and creeping ; the fertile of the same 

 thickness, 6' - 20' high ; leaves narrowly linear-awl-shaped, spinulose-pointed, spread- 

 ing, conspicuously bristle-toothed below the middle ; those of the cylindrical spike with 

 long setaceous tips. — Pine-barren swamps, New Jersey to Virginia, and south- 

 ward. Aug., Sept. — Stems, including the dense leaves, £' thick ; the comose 

 spike, with its longer spreading leaves, %' to 1' thick. 



* * Leaves (bracts) of the catkin-like spike scale-like, imbricated, yellowish, ovate or 



heart-shaped, very different from those of the sterile stems and brandies. 

 ■*- Spikes sessile (i. e. branches equally leafy to the top), single. 



5. L. annotinum, L. Much branched ; stems prostrate and creeping (1°- 

 4° long) ; the ascending brunches similar (5' - 8' high), sparingly forked, the sterile 

 ones making yearly growths from the summit ; leaves equal, spreading, in about 

 5 ranks, rigid, lanceolate, pointed, minutely serrulate (pale green) : spike soli- 



GM 29 



