FIR CLUB-MOSS. 
379 
gemma or bud, consisting of five distinct lobes or component 
parts, combined at the base ; the three inner lobes are large, 
prominent and conspicuous, even to the naked eye, {b in figures 
1, 2 and 3) ; the two outer lobes are very small, and may easily 
be overlooked ; one of them is closely appressed to the anterior, 
the other to the posterior surface of the bud.* These buds, 
which have no representatives in either of the previously- 
described British species of Lycopodium, are truly the germs of 
future plants, as each, when mature, is detached from its peri- 
chaetial socket with the slightest touch, falls to the earth, and 
germinates with the greatest readiness : figure 4 represents a 
bud thus germinating ; it is drawn from a specimen found in a 
state of nature. From the under surface of what may be termed 
the collum or neck of the bud, is protruded a single stout root, 
at first very pilose, but soon becoming smoother ; and in the 
centre of the three large lobes appears what might readily be 
mistaken for a sixth and central lobe, but which is, in reality, 
the undeveloped stem or ascending axis of the young plant. 
This part is very observable in figures 3 and 4, in the centre of 
each figure. As germination advances this axis gradually be- 
comes elongated upwards by the successive unfolding of the 
leaves, which are spirally arranged round it. The stem in this 
advanced state is shown at c c, in figures 1 and 2. When the 
leaves first unfold at the apex of the stem they are erect, but 
soon assume a spreading direction, and finally become reflexed. 
Whether these buds remain attached to the parent plant or 
fall to the ground, their germination proceeds in the same man- 
ner ; for when grown in a closed glass case, a situation which 
precludes the action of wind and rain, and therefore lessens the 
chance of their being dislodged, the buds germinate m situ, 
giving to the extremity of each branch a bushy and very remark- 
able appearance. A single bud thus growing in its perichaetial 
socket is shown at figure 2. A plant from the Titterstone Clee 
hill, cultivated by Mr. Luxford in a closed glass, died during 
* Dilleiiius was the first to notice these gemmsD. “ Eodem tempore obser- 
vavi per ramos praesertim superiora versus e foliorum alis, corpuscula cristata, 
crebra rigida e sex laciniis inaequalibus composita.’’-—Hist. Muse. 436. 
