386 
LYCOPODIACE^. 
This tuber seems analogous to what I have called a tufted rhi- 
zoma in ferns : it is of various form, commonly, however, slightly 
bilobed; its external coating is spongy, 
and of a dark brown colour approach- 
ing to black, and apparently composed 
of decaying portions of the tuber : 
the interior is very compact and of a 
pure white, with a small and nearly 
pellucid portion in the centre, whence 
the leaves appear to originate. The 
taste of this tuber is earthy, but not 
otherwise remarkable, and it seems 
perfectly innoxious, as I have eaten 
several without injury. A longitu- 
dinal section of the tuber [t t) with 
its attached roots, is shown in the 
margin. Wahlenberg says that this 
tuber vegetates in the interior while 
dying round the circumference,* a 
mode of accounting for its appearance 
which seems highly probable. 
The leaves are sessile, and rise from 
the crown of the tuber ; at the base 
they are very broad, and furnished with 
membranous margins, which clasp the 
inner leaves much in the same man- 
ner as the scales of a lily-bulb. With 
the exception of this basal portion, 
the leaves are nearly cylindrical, some- 
what however approaching to a quad- 
rate form, with obtuse angles, and 
terminating in a sharp point ; they are hollow, the interior being 
divided by longitudinal septa into four tubes, which are again 
* I quote his admirable description entire. — “ Memorabilis haec planta in 
Verralandia ferrimontana admodum vulgaris est, ibique earn variis temporibus 
anni examinavi et Lycopodiis adeo affinem esse comperi, ut non nisi seminibus 
numerosis graniformibus in capsula evalvi difFert. Caudex radicis constitiiitur 
