LYCOPODIUM. 
215 
our common species, is highly inflammable, and is used in 
pyrotechny under the name of vegetable brimstone. Being 
of a drying and healing nature, it is also used to prevent 
excoriation ; and in pharmacy is used sometimes for coat¬ 
ing pills, as it is with difficulty wetted. The Common 
Club-moss is emetic, and the Fir Club-moss is a cathartic 
and a powerful irritant; the former is used in the treat¬ 
ment of cutaneous disorders, and is a reputed remedy for 
the 'plica Polonica, 
The tiny species of Lycopods now known to botanists 
have been thought to be the direct representatives of the 
vast tree-like Lepidodendra met with in a fossil state, 
and which, in former ages, must have rivalled our coni¬ 
ferous trees. The evidence in support of this view has 
been questioned; but there seems no good reason to doubt, 
at least, that there is a very close affinity between the two 
races; and, indeed, some of the most skilful investigators 
of this subject find an almost complete agreement between 
them. 
The British species of this order are, with one excep¬ 
tion, included in the genus Lycopodium , the name of which 
comes from lycos, a wolf, and pous, podos, a foot, and is 
given in allusion to the supposed resemblance of its forked 
