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common club-moss, elk-moss, lycopode à massue, running club-moss, running-pine, stag's horn clubmoss

Hickey's tree club-moss, lycopode de Hickey, Pennsylvania clubmoss

Horizontal stems

on substrate surface.

subterranean.

Upright shoots

clustered, 0.6–1.2 cm diam., dominant main shoot with 3–6 branches mostly in lower 1/2.

treelike, many branched, branchlets numerous and strongly differentiated;

annual bud constrictions absent;

leaves on main axis below lateral branchlets tightly appressed, dark green, needlelike, 3.5–4.5 × 0.5–0.6 mm, soft.

Lateral branchlets

few and like upright shoots;

annual bud constrictions abrupt, branchlets mostly spreading.

round in cross section, 4–7 mm diam.;

annual bud constrictions inconspicuous;

leaves ascending, in 6 ranks, 1 on upperside, 4 lateral, and 1 on underside, equal in size, linear, widest in middle;

margins entire;

apex acuminate, lacking hair tip.

Leaves

spreading, often somewhat ascending in distal 1/3 of branches, medium green, linear, 4–6 × 0.4–0.8 mm;

margins entire;

apex with narrow hair tip 2.5–4 mm.

Peduncles

3.5–12.5 cm, with remote pseudowhorls of appressed leaves, loosely branched into 2–5 alternate stalks, 0.5–0.8 cm.

Strobili

2–5 on alternate stalks (if double, usually with stalks 5–8 mm), 15–25 × 3–6 mm.

sessile, 1–7 per upright shoot, 15–65 mm.

Sporophylls

1.5–2.5 mm, apex abruptly reduced to hair tip.

3–3.5 × 2–2.5 mm, apex long, gradually narrowing to tip.

2n

= 68.

= 68.

Lycopodium clavatum

Lycopodium hickeyi

Habitat Fields and woods Mainly in hardwood forests and second-growth, shrubby habitats
Elevation 100–1800 m (300–5900 ft) 0–1600 m (0–5200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AK; CA; CT; GA; ID; IL; IN; KY; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MT; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OR; PA; RI; TN; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; BC; MB; NB; NF; NS; ON; PE; QC; SK; SPM; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies; Europe; Asia; Africa; Pacific Islands
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CT; IN; KY; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; PA; RI; TN; VA; VT; WI; WV; NB; NF; NS; ON; PE; QC; SK
[WildflowerSearch map]
Discussion

Plants found in eastern North America have been called Lycopodium clavatum var. clavatum; those in the western part of the range, which have been called L. clavatum var. integrifolium Goldie, are distinguished by early shedding of the characteristic hairs on the leaf tips.

Lycopodium dendroideum group

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

The range of Lycopodium hickeyi overlaps with that of L. obscurum and extends considerably north and west of that species. Although the arrangement of the leaf ranks is similar to that of L. obscurum, the leaf dimorphy and the ascending orientation and absence of twisting of the leaves are diagnostic. Where ranges of two or three species overlap, indivual species retain their identities, indicating that their critical differences have a genetic basis.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 2. FNA vol. 2.
Parent taxa Lycopodiaceae > Lycopodium Lycopodiaceae > Lycopodium
Sibling taxa
L. annotinum, L. dendroideum, L. hickeyi, L. lagopus, L. obscurum
L. annotinum, L. clavatum, L. dendroideum, L. lagopus, L. obscurum
Synonyms L. clavatum var. subremotum L. obscurum var. isophyllum
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 1101. (1753) W. H. Wagner: Beitel, & R. C. Moran, Amer. Fern J. 79: 119–121. (1989)
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