I 
68 ferns. [Isoetes. 
simple, very small, smooth, radical fibres, and from the same })art 
upwards from two to six filiform, hollow, green leaves, about 2 inches 
long, among which, at their base, grow one or two receptacles, not 
radical, as generally said, but attached to the upper part of the stem, 
and therefore, although near the roots, not attached to them. The 
receptacles are round like a pepper-corn, (hence the name of the 
plant,) brown and hairy. The spores are oblong, contracted in the 
middle, and slightly pointed at one end. 
Sit. — Pools of water, edges of lakes, &c. not uncommon. 
Hab. — S co. : Near Inverskin, Sutherland, Mr. Campbell. Marshy ground 
between the village of Currie and the Pentland Hills, Edinburgh, Mr. H. 
Watson. Near Slateford, Forfarshire, Mr. W. Brand. — Eng. : Prestwich, near 
Northumberland, Mr. II. Bowman. Coleshill Pool, Warwickshire, Rev. W. 
Bree. Bomere Pool, Salop, Rev. E. Williams. Near Richmond, Yorkshire, 
Mr. J. Ward. Beam Heath, near Nantwich, Cheshire, Mr. J. E. Bowman. 
Once plentiful at Barrington Heath, Cheshire, and still found at Baguley Moor, in 
the same county, Mr. W. Wilson. Filby and Hopton Commons, near Yarmouth, 
Mr. Paget. ' Once and perhaps still in the ponds at Roehampton, Surrey ; and 
on Iver Heath, Middlesex, G. F. In a small pool between Okeshot Hill and 
Claremont Park, Surrey, Mr. H. C. Watson. Sussex, Rev. G. E. Smith. 
Grosvenor and Roche, Cornwall, Jones's Bot. Tour. — Wal.: Near Llanfaeloy, 
Anglesea ; and border of Llyn Idwel, Caernarvonshire, Mr. W. Wilson. 
Geo. — Most parts of Europe. 
ISOETES, Linn. QUILLWORT. 
(From icof, equal, and cto;, the year ; the plant being evergreen.) 
PLATE OF GENERA, FIG. XVIII. 
A, lower part of a plant of Isoetes lacustris, natural size. B, portion of the 
filiform leaf, much magnified. C, receptacle of the larger kind of fruit. D, 
receptacle of the smaller granules. E, spore magnified. F, arrangement of four 
spores upon one of the transverse bars of the receptacles, as described in the 
Introduction, p. 12. G, section of the receptacle which bears fertile spores. 
II, section of the abortive sporules. 
ISOETES LACUSTRIS. 
EUROPEAN QUILLWORT. MERLIN’S GRASS. 
C ha. — L eaves subulate, bluntly quadrangular, formed of four 
transversely-jointed longitudinal cells. 
