10. LYCOPODIUM, L.
1. Lycopodium scariosum, Forst. Prodr. n. 484. Spr. Syst. Veg. vol. iv. p. 18. Hook, and Grev. in Bot. Misc. vol. ii. p. 388. L. Jussieui, Desv. Eucycl. Bot. Suppl. vol. iii. p. 534. Willd. el auctorum. L. reptans, Banks and Sol. MSS. in Blbl. Banks.
Hab. Lord Auckland's group ; in woods, I). Lyall, Esq.
Sir J. Banks and Dr. Solander it would appear were amongst the original discoverers of this species, though it is of so general occurrence throughout many parts of the tropics, as very probably to exist in some of the older Herbaria. Forster's name seems to have been entirely overlooked by botanists; it is attached to a specimen, preserved in the British Museum, of the plant now well known under the name of L. Jussieui Desv., a very widely diffused species, especially throughout the S. American continent. Mr. Colenso has collected it in the mountainous interior of the northern island of New Zealand, and Sir J. Banks and Dr. Solander in Admiralty Sound. There exist, in Herb. Hook., South American specimens from as far south as Valdivia, and also froin Peru, New Grenada, and Jamaica, where it appears to be abundant, varying slightly in habit, being sometimes suberect or ascending, but more generally having a long trailing caudex, which sends up erect branching stems.
The L. scariosum belongs to a small section of the genus, whose natural position is between the two great groups, namely, that with the leaves imbricated all round the stem, and that in which they are stipulate, distichous, and more or less of a membranous texture. The spikes of this section are generally pedunculate and often branched, as in this species and L. complanatum, L. ; but sometimes sessile, which is the case with L. decurrens, Br. ; in the former character, as in the coriaceous fobage, often indistinct stipules and arctic, alpine or temperate habitats, this section differs from the tropical distichous-leaved division to which the form of foliage approximates it. Like most natural groups, the limits of this cannot be very strictly defined ; Mr. Brown's L. decurrens has the sessile spikes of the tropical species of Selaginella and some states of L. complanatum ; approaching forms of L. Alpiwum, D., pass into the imbricated ones. The allies of L. scariosum are few ; I am acquainted with the following ; 1. L. decurrens, Br., only known as an inhabitant of the Alps of Van Diemen's Land ; 2. L. complanatum, L., this is a very widely diffused plant throughout the temperate and arctic regions of Europe, Asia, and America; we possess specimens of a very similar,
if not the same species, from upper India and the Peninsula of Hiudostan, as also from Jamaica, from Mexico, Columbia. Peru, Caraccas and Brazil, it is the L. thuyoides, H. B. K. ; 3. L. volubile, Forst., a very common New Zealand species this and the two following have compound panicles of spikes, with elongated and spreading branches ; 4. L.flicaule,[1] (vid. infra) ; 5. L. comans, (vid. infra) ; 6. L. V'iyhtianum, Wall., some states of this have the leaves towards the
- ↑ L.jilicaule, Hook. fil. ; vage ramosmn, caule gracillimo nudo tcreti valde ramoso, raniis divaricatis patentibus filifonuibus compressis foliosis utrinque stipulatis, foliis altemis oppositisve linearibus longe decurrentibus parte superiore solum libero curvato subulate apice pilifero, stipulis parvis raris piliferis, pdis diaphanis, spicis plurimis pedicellatis paniculatis inclinatis v. pendulis, squamis late ovatis aciuninatis.
Hab. Upper India. Moflong fir forest Khaisya Hills, Mr. Griffiths. A very fine species ; the branches are of a dusky red color when dry ; the ultimate ones, with the leaves, 1 bne across. The panicles of spikes are lateral, 3-4 inches long and spreading ; the spikes themselves, - inch long, generally curving.
f L. eomam, Hook. fil. ; pendulum, caule dichotome ramoso tereti hinc dlinc cicatricato nudo v. foliis diaphanis sparsis, raniis longissimis pendulis gracilibus flaccidis pluries divisis valde compressis utrinque stipulatis foliosis, foliis distichis suboppositis alteniisve longe linearibus per totam fere ongitudinem decurrentibus coadunatis apicibus solum liberis aeutis, stipulis scariosis raris, spicarum paniculis lateralibus valde ramosis, ramis pedicellisque teretibus foliis sparsis lanceolatis scariosis obsitis, spicis longe pedicellatis arcuatis, squamis ovatis in laminam erosam seariosam diaphanam productis.
