OregonFlora: Lycopodium clavatum vs. Lycopodium

	Lycopodium clavatum	Lycopodium
	common clubmoss, stag's horn clubmoss	clubmoss
Habit	Herbs perennial, forming loose mats with main stems up to 1 m long.	Herbs perennial, trailing; roots at regular intervals from horizontal or buried stems.
Stems	sparsely to densely leafy; lateral branches arising from the main stem, forming clumps of erect, densely leafy stems, 10–25 cm tall.	densely leafy; annual growth sections often separated by a leafless constriction.
Gemmae		absent.
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.	linear to narrowly lanceolate; entire or minutely toothed; leaves on erect branches borne in 6 or more distinct ranks.
Peduncles	well developed.
Cones	2–5 cm long.	at ends of erect; leafy, fertile branches, or in a simple to branched peduncle with reduced leaves bearing 1–several cones.
Sporophylls	straw colored, approximately 3.5 × 2 mm; ovate; apex with a caducous tip hair.
2n		=68.

	Lycopodium clavatum	Lycopodium
Distribution	[WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county 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.	Temperate to subarctic regions. 15–25 species; 2 species treated in Flora. Spores of Lycopodium clavatum and other common species are harvested and sold as Lycopodium powder, used for a variety of purposes including ignition and lubrication.
Source	Flora of Oregon, volume 1, page 84 Duncan Thomas	Flora of Oregon, volume 1, page 84 Duncan Thomas
Sibling taxa	L. annotinum
Subordinate taxa		L. annotinum, L. clavatum
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	Local floras: 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

Lycopodium

common clubmoss, stag's horn clubmoss

clubmoss

Habit

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

Herbs perennial, trailing; roots at regular intervals from horizontal or buried stems.

Stems

sparsely to densely leafy;

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

densely leafy; annual growth sections often separated by a leafless constriction.

Gemmae

absent.

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.

linear to narrowly lanceolate; entire or minutely toothed;

leaves on erect branches borne in 6 or more distinct ranks.

Peduncles

well developed.

Cones

2–5 cm long.

at ends of erect; leafy, fertile branches, or in a simple to branched peduncle with reduced leaves bearing 1–several cones.

Sporophylls

straw colored, approximately 3.5 × 2 mm; ovate;

apex with a caducous tip hair.

=68.

Lycopodium clavatum

Lycopodium

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.

Temperate to subarctic regions. 15–25 species; 2 species treated in Flora.

Spores of Lycopodium clavatum and other common species are harvested and sold as Lycopodium powder, used for a variety of purposes including ignition and lubrication.

Source

Flora of Oregon, volume 1, page 84
Duncan Thomas

Sibling taxa

L. annotinum

Subordinate taxa

L. annotinum, L. clavatum

Synonyms

Lycopodium clavatum var. clavatum, Lycopodium clavatum var. integrifolium

Web links