ISOETES. 
201 
a dark yellowish-green. The 
fructification is situated in 
the axils of the upper leaves, 
and contained in capsules of 
a kidney- shape. Besides this 
mode of reproduction, deci- 
duous buds are often formed 
on the summits of the 
branches, the leaves become 
converted into lobed cups, 
tiny transparent leaves spring 
up in the disk, they enlarge 
and put forth other leaves ; 
the bud thus formed falls off, strikes root, and soon rises 
into a stem. Sometimes it may be found growing upon 
the parent plant in a truly viviparous fashion. 
The general aspect of the Fir Club-moss closely re- 
sembles the young state of the Norfolk Island and other 
pines; it is a very tough, unyielding, hardy-looking 
mimic of a shrub, and suits well the bleak, desolate lo- 
calities which it affects. It is ever at a high elevation 
and on the barest rocky ground that this Lycopod flou- 
rishes best. 
Its foreign homes are in the cold regions of Europe, 
Asia, and America. 
MABSILEACEiE. 
ISOETES. 
Gen. Char. “ Capsules without a ring, indekiscent, immersed 
in a cavity of the very dilated base of long subulate radical 
leaves : — of two kinds, those at the base of the outer leaves con- 
taining a few large trigonous spores, rough with minute points 
