Lycopodium annotinum L.

• Authority

  Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

• Family

  Lycopodiaceae

• Scientific Name

  Lycopodium annotinum L.

• Description

  Species Description - Prostrate stems superficial, elongate, simple or sparsely branched, 1.5–2.5 mm thick, sparsely leafy, the lvs of the lower ranks twisted; erect stems simple or 1–2-forked, 0.5–3 dm, the lvs firm, 5–11 mm, linear-subulate or linear-oblanceolate, spinulose-tipped, 8- ranked, subverticillate, with 4 lvs per whorl; cones terminal, sessile, 1.5–4 cm, 4.5–7.5 mm thick; sporophylls yellowish, broad-based, acuminate, the margins hyaline and erose; sporangia reniform, 1.5 mm wide; spores 28–36 microns in diameter, the sides convex, the commissural faces smooth, the outer open-reticulate, the commissures not in furrows; 2n=68. Acid, moist to dry soil, often in coniferous woods; circumboreal, s. to N.J. and Minn., and in the mts. to Va. and W.Va.

• Common Names

  stiff clubmoss