Flora of North America species comparison

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Lycopodium hickeyi

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

subterranean.
Upright shoots

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

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.
Strobili

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

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

= 68.

Lycopodium hickeyi
Habitat Mainly in hardwood forests and second-growth, shrubby habitats
Elevation 0–1600 m (0–5200 ft)
Distribution
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
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Discussion

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.
Parent taxa Lycopodiaceae > Lycopodium
Sibling taxa
L. annotinum, L. clavatum, L. dendroideum, L. lagopus, L. obscurum
Synonyms L. obscurum var. isophyllum
Name authority W. H. Wagner: Beitel, & R. C. Moran, Amer. Fern J. 79: 119–121. (1989)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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