BC Conservation Data Centre: Species Summary
Lycopodium annotinum
stiff club-moss
| Scientific Name: | Lycopodium annotinum L. | ||||||||||
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| English Name: | stiff club-moss | ||||||||||
| Classification / Taxonomy | |||||||||||
| Scientific Name - Concept Reference: | Kartesz, J.T. 1994. A synonymized checklist of the vascular flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland. 2nd edition. 2 vols. Timber Press, Portland, OR. | ||||||||||
| Classification Level: | Species | ||||||||||
| Species Group: | Vascular Plant | ||||||||||
| Species Code: | LYCOANN | ||||||||||
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| Conservation Status / Legal Designation | |||||||||||
| Global Status: | G5 (Jul 2015) | ||||||||||
| Provincial Status: | S5 (Apr 2019) | ||||||||||
| BC List: | Yellow | ||||||||||
| Provincial FRPA list: | |||||||||||
| Provincial Wildlife Act: | |||||||||||
| COSEWIC Status: | |||||||||||
| SARA Schedule: | |||||||||||
| General Status Canada: | 4 - Secure (2010) | ||||||||||
| Ecology & Life History | |||||||||||
| General Description: | Stiff club-moss, a perennial, has elongated horizontal stems trailing on the ground, rooting at intervals, mostly unbranched. Upright shoots are clustered, mainly unbranched or sparsely branched near the base, 1.2-1.6 cm in diameter and to 20 cm or more in height; annual bud constrictions abrupt and conspicuous. Lateral branchlets few but without the annual constrictions. Leaves dark green, spreading to reflexed, linear-lanceolate (lance-shaped) 2.5 x 6 mm, stiff, sharp pointed, lacking a hair tip. Strobili (cone-like structure composed of overlapping scales bearing spore-containing structures) sessile at the ends of the shoots, solitary, 15-30 x 3.5-4.5 mm. Sporophylls (scales of the strobili) to 3.4 x 2 mm, abruptly narrowed to pointed tips. | ||||||||||
| Technical Description: | Plants perennial, mainly trailing on the ground, horizontal stems rooting at intervals. Upright shoots scattered along the horizontal stem at intervals, mainly unbranched or sparsely branched from near the base, 1.2-1.6 cm x 20 cm; annual bud constrictions abrupt and conspicuoius. Lateral branchlets few and like the upright shoots but annual bud constrictions absent. Leaves dark green, 8-ranked, stiff and hard, 6-11 mm, spreading to reflexed; margins closely and shallowly dentate mainly towards the apex; apex sharp-pointed, lacking a hair tip. Strobili solitary, sessile on shoots, 15-30 x 3.5-4.5 mm. Sporophylls 3.5 x 0.7 mm, abruptly narrowed to pointed tips. | ||||||||||
| Diagnostic Characteristics: | Horizontal stems, on substrate surface; upright shoots branched or unbranched, with conspicuous annual bud constrictions; leaves 8-ranked, dark green, speading to reflexed, sharp pointed, serrate near tip, lacking a hair tip. Strobili single, sessile on upright branches. | ||||||||||
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| Habitats: (Type / Subtype / Dependence) |
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| Global Habitat Comments: | This species occurs in exposed grassy or rocky places, swampy or moist coniferous and mountain forests, at elevations ranging from 0 to 1,850 meters (Wagner Jr. and Beitel, 2022). | ||||||||||
| Provincial Phenology: (1st half of month/ 2nd half of month) |
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| Elevation (m) (min / max): | Provincial: | ||||||||||
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| Dispersal: | |||||||||||
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| Distribution | |||||||||||
| Endemic: | N | ||||||||||
| Disjunct, more common elsewhere: | |||||||||||
| Peripheral, major distribution elsewhere: | |||||||||||
| Authors / Contributors | |||||||||||
| Global Information Author: | PUNTER, E. | ||||||||||
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| Last Literature Search: | |||||||||||
| References and Related Literature | |||||||||||
Flora of North America Editorial Committee (FNA). 1993a. Flora of North America north of Mexico. Vol. 2. Pteridophytes and gymnosperms. Oxford Univ. Press, New York. xvi + 475 pp. |
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Please visit the website Conservation Status Ranks for definitions of the data fields used in this summary report.
Suggested Citation:
B.C. Conservation Data Centre. Species Summary: Lycopodium annotinum. B.C. Minist. of Environment. Available: https://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/ (accessed Jun 5, 2026).