Running Cedar

In my eye one of the most beautiful plants in the woods is running cedar. Running cedar makes a thick carpet as it spreads from it's rhizomes which spread out over the top of the forest floor under the leaf litter.
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Running cedar has leaves that look like some kind of pine but its actually a kind of overgrown moss. I guess the average height is somewhere around six inches and most patches I've found in the woods range from the size of a room to seventy five feet across. This time of year tiny cones are sent up another few inches on threadlike stems that release a yellow dust of spores when you walk thru a patch. My boots end up coated a dusty yellow. This dust called lycopodium powder is extremelt flamable and was used by old time photographers in their flashbulbs. Next time your watching a western and see the old time photographer with the giant camera on the tripod and see the big pop and cloud of dusty smoke when his flash popped you will know what caused it. Lycopodium powder was also sold by magic supply stores under the name Flash Powder as a pinch thrown over a flame like a candle would create a mimi fireball in the air. Most colonies I've found seem to be at the base of moist hillsides in deep undisturbed woods which seem to add to the air of mystery and the feel that you have found a special hidden place.
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