198 
BRITISH FERNS. 
This Club- moss is a diminutive plant, and is there- 
fore often overlooked. 
It has been found in the temperate regions of Europe 
and North America. 
52. Lycopodium selaginoide^. Lesser Alpine 
Clnb»Moss # 
Stems slender and delicate. Branches short, ascending. 
Leaves soft, broadly lanceolate, pointed, and sharply toothed. 
Spikes at the top of the branches, without footstalk. Bracts 
like the leaves, but with, more numerous teeth. Capsules of two 
kinds. 
The Lesser Alpine Club-moss is a much more tender 
plant than those we have already described. Its roots 
are slender and thread-like, 
its stem slight, weak, and 
repeatedly branched ; the 
branches grow 7 erect, and are 
delicate in structure ; the 
leaves are thin, soft, and of a 
bright spring green. The 
large bracts on the spike 
spread widely, and reveal the 
bright sulphur-coloured cap- 
sules. When those near the 
apex burst, they give forth a 
cloud of yellow dust, which 
powders the grass and moss near to the plant. Those 
near the base of the spike contain larger bodies, supposed 
to be buds. Both the yellow spores and the buds ger- 
minate. Sir W illiam Hooker tells us that the presence 
of these buds is characteristic of an allied genus called 
Selaginella , but the rest of its structure agrees with 
those of Lycopodium . 
