OregonFlora: Lycopodium clavatum

	Lycopodium clavatum
	common clubmoss, stag's horn clubmoss
Habit	Herbs perennial, forming loose mats with main stems up to 1 m long.
Stems	sparsely to densely leafy; lateral branches arising from the main stem, forming clumps of erect, densely leafy stems, 10–25 cm tall.
Leaves	linear, incurved; in 6 or more ranks, 7–8 mm long, usually entire, occasionally with sparse teeth, narrowed at the apex into a long caducous hair tip; tip 1–2 mm long.
Peduncles	well developed.
Cones	2–5 cm long.
Sporophylls	straw colored, approximately 3.5 × 2 mm; ovate; apex with a caducous tip hair.

	Lycopodium clavatum
Distribution	[WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]
Discussion	Moist to dry sites in forests. 0–1700 m. Casc, CR, Est, Sisk. CA, ID, WA; mainly western and eastern US and Canada, south to South America; Africa, Eurasia. Native. Plants from western North America, sometimes described as var. integrifolium, differ from those in the east by the early shedding of the hairs on the leaf tips.
Source	Flora of Oregon, volume 1, page 84 Duncan Thomas
Sibling taxa	L. annotinum
Synonyms	Lycopodium clavatum var. clavatum, Lycopodium clavatum var. integrifolium
Web links	Local floras: BC, CA, OR, WA Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos, Flora NW, PNW Herbaria WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search

Lycopodium clavatum

common clubmoss, stag's horn clubmoss

Habit

Herbs perennial, forming loose mats with main stems up to 1 m long.

Stems

sparsely to densely leafy;

lateral branches arising from the main stem, forming clumps of erect, densely leafy stems, 10–25 cm tall.

Leaves

linear, incurved; in 6 or more ranks, 7–8 mm long, usually entire, occasionally with sparse teeth, narrowed at the apex into a long caducous hair tip;

tip 1–2 mm long.

Peduncles

well developed.

Cones

2–5 cm long.

Sporophylls

straw colored, approximately 3.5 × 2 mm; ovate;

apex with a caducous tip hair.

Lycopodium clavatum

Distribution

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

Discussion

Moist to dry sites in forests. 0–1700 m. Casc, CR, Est, Sisk. CA, ID, WA; mainly western and eastern US and Canada, south to South America; Africa, Eurasia. Native.

Plants from western North America, sometimes described as var. integrifolium, differ from those in the east by the early shedding of the hairs on the leaf tips.

Source

Flora of Oregon, volume 1, page 84
Duncan Thomas

Sibling taxa

L. annotinum

Synonyms

Lycopodium clavatum var. clavatum, Lycopodium clavatum var. integrifolium

Web links