club moss

club moss, (family Lycopodiaceae), any of some 400 species of seedless vascular plants constituting the only family of the lycophyte order Lycopodiales. The taxonomy of the family has been contentious, and the number of genera vary depending on the source. The plants are native mainly to tropical mountains but are also common in northern forests of both hemispheres. See also lower vascular plant.

Physical description

Club mosses are low evergreen herbs with needlelike or scalelike leaves. Many species have conelike clusters of small leaves (strobili), each with a kidney-shaped spore capsule at its base. The plants are homosporous, meaning that they produce just one kind of spore. They have terrestrial or subterranean gametophytes that vary in size and shape depending on the genera. In some species, including nearly all those of the north temperate zone, the subterranean gametophyte is dependent upon an associated fungus for continued growth. This sexual phase alternates in the life cycle with the spore-producing plant, the sporophyte, which is aboveground and is formed following fertilization.

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Major genera and species

In 2016 the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group, an informal group of taxonomists from around the world, published their first taxonomic consensus, known as PPG I. The system recognizes 16 genera in the family Lycopodiaceae. including Huperzia (10–15 species), Lycopodiella (15 species), and Lycopodium (9–15 species).

Shining club moss (Huperzia lucidula), a North American species occurring in wet woods and among rocks, has no distinct strobili; it bears its spore capsules at the bases of leaves scattered along the branches. Fir club moss (H. selago), a 20-cm- (8-inch-) tall plant native to rocks and bog margins in the Northern Hemisphere, also lacks distinct strobili.

Common club moss, also known as running pine or stag’s horn moss (Lycopodium clavatum), has creeping stems up to 3 metres (about 10 feet) long and has 10-cm- (about 4-inch-) high ascending branches. The scalelike green leaves are set closely together. Running pine is native to open dry woods and rocky places in the Northern Hemisphere. The spore-producing leaves are arranged in pairs along a stalklike strobilus.

Ground pine (Dendrolycopodium obscurum), a 25-cm- (10-inch-) tall plant, has underground-running stems. It is native to moist woods and bog margins in northern North America, to mountain areas farther south, and to eastern Asia.

Alpine club moss (Diphasiastrum alpinum), with yellowish or grayish leaves, is native to cold woods and alpine mountains in northern North America and Eurasia. Ground cedar (D. digitatum), native to northern North America, produces fanlike branches resembling juniper branchlets.

Members of the genus Lycopodiella are commonly known as bog club mosses. They grow in bogs and other wetland habitats nearly worldwide, and many species are native to tropical areas of the Americas.

The pygmy club moss (Phylloglossum drummondii) is the only member of its genus and is found in parts of Australia and New Zealand.