Li-ko-po-di-a'se-e. L. Lycovodi-um + aceae, fr. Gr.

a wolf,

a foot - 1. e., from appearance of the shoots to a wolf's foot. Herbs resembling mosses. Distinguished by creeping stems, conns; leaves small, sessile, 4-16 ranks; sporangia in axis of leaves or scales, 1-3-celled, often reniform, 2-valved, containing many yellow spores, of one kind only, marked at summit with 3 radiating lines; prothallia subterranean, with or without chlorophyll; monoecious; universal; emetic, purgative, aphrodisiac, acrid principle poisonous, some spores inflammable. Genus: 1. Lycopodium.