?B1 



on their underside 6-9 pale membranous sporangia that open longitu- 

 dinally in a slit on the inner side ; spores minute, green, united to 

 wool-like threads (elaters) that are spontaneously irritant while dry. 



\ single genus represents this order, numbering about twenty or 

 thirty species, the principal part of which are spread through the north 

 temperate zone, where they are, in several European countries, common 

 and well-known maish plants, which in Britain go by the name of 

 horse-tails and paddock-pipes. In some species the barren and fertile 

 stems are alike, in others they are different. They form no leaves 

 proper, but these organs are represented by the membraneous sheaths 

 of the joints. The branches are produced after the stems have deve- 

 loped, and they grow through the base of the sheaths. 



Genus I. — Equisetum, Linn. 

 For characters refer to the order — 



I. E. giganteum, Linn — Stems 4-6 or more ft high, ^ in. thick, 

 stiff and erect ; furrows very numerous (two dozen or more; ; sheaths 

 whitish, \ in deep, teeth as numerous as the furrows of the stems, 

 acuminate, blackish with white scariose edges; ribs keel-like ; branches 

 nureerous, virgate, spreading ; furrows few (seven) ; sheaths correspond- 

 ing in number of teeth ; spikes apiculate, terminal on the twigs, 2-8 

 li. 1 , oblong or ovate ; fertile shorter than the barren branches. — SI. 

 Herb. Brit. Mus. ; Baker, Fern. Al. p. 4. 



Infrequent in marshy places and by the sides of rivers, from the low- 

 lands up to 3,000 or 4,000 ft. alt. ; gathered on the banks of the npper 

 part of the Yallahs river, above Pleasant Hill, first collected by Sloane, 

 and again by Purdie, Wilson and March at the ferry, Morant Bay. 

 The species is widely spre;.d and variable in size and other characters, 

 which has led to its having received several names. It is said in 

 some instances to grow 20 ft. high. 



Order III. — LycopodiacecB, 



Stems erect prostrate or pendent, with terete or flattened branches, 

 which are more or less repeatedly dichotomous (except in Fhylloglossum) 

 and leafy throughout ; leaves relatively small, often minute, simple or 

 foiked, one-nerved, many seried and irregularly whorled, or, rarely, 

 distichous; usually linear or subulate, close and imbricatng or more 

 apart, rarely distant; sporangia bi-or trivalved, single, sessile and 

 axillary in the leaves of the normal or modified branches, or in special 

 spikes ; spores of one kind, abundant and dust-like. 



Four genera comprise thi order, but only two of them are repre- 

 sented in this flora. The others, Fhylloglossum and Tmsipteris, are 

 confined entirely to Australia and the adjacent islands. 



Sporangia 2-lobed. — Lycopodium. 



Sporangia 3-lobed. — Psilotum. 



Genus I. Lycopodium^ Linn. 



Sporangia leniform, one- celled, bivalved, axillary in the normal or 

 modified leaves of the outer parts of the branches, or in the imbricating 

 scales of special spikes ; leaves of one or two kinds, multifarious, rarely 

 distichous or biserial, generally close and often imbricating ; stems and 



