COMMON CLUB-MOSS. 
357 
seed is employed in its manufacture ; my knowledge of the sub- 
ject being confined exclusively to the advertisement. 
This plant has been figured by Tragus, Lobel, Tabernse- 
montanus, Cordus, Gerarde, John Bauhin, Plukenet, Matthiolus, 
Camerarius, Dillenius, &c., but with the exception of the figure 
by Dillenius,^' none of them give a very accurate idea of the 
plant : of later representations, that in the ‘ Flora Danica ’ f is 
perhaps the best, but even this does not approach in accuracy 
or freedom of drawing the admirable figure by Dillenius. 
The older botanists have generally called this species Muscus 
terrestris^ or Muscus clavatus : Cordus terms it Chamccpeuce^ 
or dwarf fir : and all writers since the establishment of the 
Linnean binominal nomenclature have agreed in naming it Ly- 
copodium clavatum. 
The medical properties of the Common Club-moss have been 
greatly extolled by our earliest writers. Tragus gives a flaming 
account of its virtues, the chief of which seem to be the remo- 
val of calculus by comminution, and the cure of gout ;X Matthi- 
olus, § Camerarius,|| Lobel,1[ Tabernsemontanus,* * * § ^ Ray,tt and 
Dillenius, J 4 appear to have taken these virtues for granted, as 
they have copied them without hesitation. Ray indeed adds 
several others, and asserts that a decoction of its leaves was 
used in Poland as a cure for a disease called Plica, whence, he 
observes, the plant has been named Plicarius and John Bau- 
hin, in addition to many other valuable properties, states that 
loose teeth may be fixed by washing the mouth with a decoction 
of the seed in red wine.|| || I am, however, inclined to think that 
* Hist. Muse. t. 58, fig. 1. f Flor. Dan. 126. 
I Vino decoctus ac potus calculos comminuit ; * nonnulli etiam aquara 
ex eo distillant, ad eadem affectionem. Muscus contusus aut in vino decoctus 
dolorem et inflammationem sedandi vim obtinet, ideoque podagree calidae impo- 
situs prodest. — Tragus, 555. 
§ Matthiolus, Valgr. i. 57. || Camerarius, Epitome, 32. 5[ Lobelius, 645. 
Taberneemontanus, 1201. ff flay. Hist. 120. Hist.Musc.441. 
§§Apud Rutbenos et Lithuanos ad Plicam morbum gentibus illis endemium 
adhibitur, unde Plicarium et Cingularium eum nominant. — Syn. 107. 
llljin eodem [rubro] vino coctus, si eo abluatur os, tremulos dentes confirmat. 
— Hist. iii. 759. 
