Lycopodium
Encyclopedia
Lycopodium is a genus
of clubmosses, also known as ground pines or creeping cedar, in the family Lycopodiaceae
, a family of fern-allies (see Pteridophyta). They are flower
less, vascular, terrestrial or epiphytic
plant
s, with widely-branched, erect, prostrate or creeping stems, with small, simple, needle-like or scale-like leaves
that cover the stem and branches thickly. The leaves contain a single, unbranched vascular strand and are microphyll
s by definition. The kidney shaped or reniform spore
-cases (sporangia
) contain spores of one kind only (isosporous, homosporous
) and are borne on the upper surface of the leaf blade of specialized leaves (sporophylls) arranged in a cone-like strobilus
at the end of upright stems. The club-shaped appearance of these fertile stems gives the clubmosses their common name.
Lycopods reproduce sexually by spores. The plant has an underground sexual phase that produces gamete
s, and this alternates in the life cycle with the spore-producing plant. The prothallium developed from the spore is a subterranean mass of tissue of considerable size and bears both the male and female organs (antheridium
and archegonia). However, it is more common that they are distributed vegetatively through above or below ground rhizomes.
There are approximately 950 species, with 37 species widely distributed in temperate and tropical climates, though they are confined to mountain
s in the tropics.
The genera Diphasiastrum
, Lycopodiella
and Huperzia were once included within this genus, but are now recognized as being distinct. Some workers also segregate several more genera, including Dendrolycopodium for L. obscurum and related species, and Spinulum for L. annotinum and related species.
The spores of Lycopodium and Diphasiastrum species have been harvested and used economically as Lycopodium powder
.
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
of clubmosses, also known as ground pines or creeping cedar, in the family Lycopodiaceae
Lycopodiaceae
The Lycopodiaceae is a family of primitive vascular plants, including all of the core clubmosses. These plants bear spores on specialized structures at the apex of a shoot; they resemble a tiny battle club, from which the common name derives...
, a family of fern-allies (see Pteridophyta). They are flower
Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
less, vascular, terrestrial or epiphytic
Epiphyte
An epiphyte is a plant that grows upon another plant non-parasitically or sometimes upon some other object , derives its moisture and nutrients from the air and rain and sometimes from debris accumulating around it, and is found in the temperate zone and in the...
plant
Plant
Plants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Precise definitions of the kingdom vary, but as the term is used here, plants include familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The group is also called green plants or...
s, with widely-branched, erect, prostrate or creeping stems, with small, simple, needle-like or scale-like leaves
Leaf
A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....
that cover the stem and branches thickly. The leaves contain a single, unbranched vascular strand and are microphyll
Microphyll
The terminology of fossil plants is in places a little confusing. In the discipline's 200+ year history, certain concepts have become entrenched, even though improved understanding has threatened the foundations upon which they are based...
s by definition. The kidney shaped or reniform spore
Spore
In biology, a spore is a reproductive structure that is adapted for dispersal and surviving for extended periods of time in unfavorable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many bacteria, plants, algae, fungi and some protozoa. According to scientist Dr...
-cases (sporangia
Sporangium
A sporangium is an enclosure in which spores are formed. It can be composed of a single cell or can be multicellular. All plants, fungi, and many other lineages form sporangia at some point in their life cycle...
) contain spores of one kind only (isosporous, homosporous
Spore
In biology, a spore is a reproductive structure that is adapted for dispersal and surviving for extended periods of time in unfavorable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many bacteria, plants, algae, fungi and some protozoa. According to scientist Dr...
) and are borne on the upper surface of the leaf blade of specialized leaves (sporophylls) arranged in a cone-like strobilus
Strobilus
A strobilus is a structure present on many land plant species consisting of sporangia-bearing structures densely aggregated along a stem. Strobili are often called cones, but many botanists restrict the use of the term cone to the woody seed strobili of conifers...
at the end of upright stems. The club-shaped appearance of these fertile stems gives the clubmosses their common name.
Lycopods reproduce sexually by spores. The plant has an underground sexual phase that produces gamete
Gamete
A gamete is a cell that fuses with another cell during fertilization in organisms that reproduce sexually...
s, and this alternates in the life cycle with the spore-producing plant. The prothallium developed from the spore is a subterranean mass of tissue of considerable size and bears both the male and female organs (antheridium
Antheridium
An antheridium or antherida is a haploid structure or organ producing and containing male gametes . It is present in the gametophyte phase of lower plants like mosses and ferns, and also in the primitive vascular psilotophytes...
and archegonia). However, it is more common that they are distributed vegetatively through above or below ground rhizomes.
There are approximately 950 species, with 37 species widely distributed in temperate and tropical climates, though they are confined to mountain
Mountain
Image:Himalaya_annotated.jpg|thumb|right|The Himalayan mountain range with Mount Everestrect 58 14 160 49 Chomo Lonzorect 200 28 335 52 Makalurect 378 24 566 45 Mount Everestrect 188 581 920 656 Tibetan Plateaurect 250 406 340 427 Rong River...
s in the tropics.
The genera Diphasiastrum
Diphasiastrum
Diphasiastrum is a genus of clubmosses in the plant family Lycopodiaceae. It is closely related to the genus Lycopodium, and some botanists treat it within a broad view of that genus as a section, Lycopodium sect. Complanata...
, Lycopodiella
Lycopodiella
Lycopodiella is a genus in the clubmoss family Lycopodiaceae. The genus members are commonly called bog clubmosses, describing their wetland habitat. There are 38 species; the distribution is cosmopolitan, with centres of diversity in the tropical New World and New Guinea...
and Huperzia were once included within this genus, but are now recognized as being distinct. Some workers also segregate several more genera, including Dendrolycopodium for L. obscurum and related species, and Spinulum for L. annotinum and related species.
The spores of Lycopodium and Diphasiastrum species have been harvested and used economically as Lycopodium powder
Lycopodium powder
Lycopodium powder is a yellow-tan dust-like powder historically used as a flash powder. It is composed of the dry spores of clubmoss plants, various fern relatives principally in the genera Lycopodium and Diphasiastrum...
.
Section Lycopodium
- Lycopodium aberdaricum (central and southern AfricaAfricaAfrica is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
) - Lycopodium alboffii (southernmost South AmericaSouth AmericaSouth America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
and the Falkland IslandsFalkland IslandsThe Falkland Islands are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, located about from the coast of mainland South America. The archipelago consists of East Falkland, West Falkland and 776 lesser islands. The capital, Stanley, is on East Falkland...
) - Lycopodium centrochinense (east Asia (central China to India and the PhilippinesPhilippinesThe Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
) - Lycopodium clavatumLycopodium clavatumLycopodium clavatum is the most widespread species in the genus Lycopodium of the clubmoss family Lycopodiaceae....
(Stag's-horn Clubmoss; subcosmopolitan, see species article for details) - Lycopodium diaphanum (Tristan da CunhaTristan da CunhaTristan da Cunha is a remote volcanic group of islands in the south Atlantic Ocean and the main island of that group. It is the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world, lying from the nearest land, South Africa, and from South America...
) - Lycopodium hygrophilum (New GuineaNew GuineaNew Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
) - Lycopodium interjectum (southwest China (SichuanSichuan' , known formerly in the West by its postal map spellings of Szechwan or Szechuan is a province in Southwest China with its capital in Chengdu...
)) - Lycopodium japonicum (eastern Asia (Japan west and south to IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and Sri LankaSri LankaSri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
)) - Lycopodium lagopus (circumpolar arctic and subarctic)
- Lycopodium papuanum (New Guinea)
- Lycopodium pullei (New Guinea)
- Lycopodium simulans (southwest China (Yunnan))
- Lycopodium taliense (southwest China (Yunnan))
- Lycopodium venustulum (HawaiiHawaiiHawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
, Western Samoa, Society IslandsSociety IslandsThe Society Islands are a group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean. They are politically part of French Polynesia. The archipelago is generally believed to have been named by Captain James Cook in honor of the Royal Society, the sponsor of the first British scientific survey of the islands;...
) - Lycopodium vestitum (northwest South America (Andes))
Section Obscura (genus Dendrolycopodium)
- Lycopodium dendroideumLycopodium dendroideumLycopodium dendroideum is a clubmoss native to the northeastern United States. It is part of a complex of species colloquially known as groundpine and which was originally all lumped under the species Lycopodium obscurum. This species was known as L. obscurum L. var...
(northern North AmericaNorth AmericaNorth America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
) - Lycopodium hickeyi (northeastern North America)
- Lycopodium juniperoideum (northeast Asia (central SiberiaSiberiaSiberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
southeast to TaiwanTaiwanTaiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
)) - Lycopodium obscurumLycopodium obscurumLycopodium obscurum, commonly called ground pine or princess pine, is a species of clubmoss in the family Lycopodiaceae. It is a close relative of other treelike Lycopodium such as L. dendroideum and L. Hickeyi. It is distributed from Alabama to the east coast of the United States, and north into...
(northeast North America, northeast Asia)
Section Annotina (Spinulum)
- Lycopodium alticola (southwest ChinaChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
) - Lycopodium annotinumLycopodium annotinumLycopodium annotinum L. is a species of clubmoss native to forests of the Holarctic Kingdom. A new genus, Spinulum A. Haines, has been proposed for this and closely allied species, but phylogenetic analysis has shown that this small clade is very close to the Lycopodium clavatum...
(stiff clubmoss or interrupted clubmoss; circumpolar north temperate) - Lycopodium dubium (cold temperate and subarctic EuropeEuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and AsiaAsiaAsia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
; treated as a synonym of L. annotinum by some authors) - Lycopodium subarcticum (northeast Siberia)
- Lycopodium zonatum (southeast TibetTibetTibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
)
Section Diphasium
- Lycopodium gayanum (south-central ChileChileChile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
and adjacent westernmost ArgentinaArgentinaArgentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
) - Lycopodium jussiaei (northern South America, CaribbeanCaribbeanThe Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
) - Lycopodium scariosum (southeastern Australia, New Zealand, Borneo (Mount KinabaluMount KinabaluMount Kinabalu is a prominent mountain on the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. It is located in the East Malaysian state of Sabah and is protected as Kinabalu National Park, a World Heritage Site. Kinabalu is the tallest peak in Borneo's Crocker Range and is the tallest mountain in the Malay...
))
Section Lycopodiastrum
- Lycopodium casuarinoides (southeast AsiaAsiaAsia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
(JapanJapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
to BhutanBhutanBhutan , officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked state in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalayas and bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by the People's Republic of China...
and BorneoBorneoBorneo is the third largest island in the world and is located north of Java Island, Indonesia, at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia....
))
Section Magellanica (genus Austrolycopodium)
- Lycopodium fastigiatum (southeastern Australia, New Zealand)
- Lycopodium magellanicumLycopodium magellanicumLycopodium magellanicum is a species of club moss that falls into the Lycopodium genus. A number of natural products have been isolated from this plant, including magellanine, magellaninone, panticuline, acetyldihydrolycopodine, acetylfawcettiine, clavolonine , deacetylfawcettiine, fawcettiine,...
(South and Central America (AndesAndesThe Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...
), southern Atlantic OceanAtlantic OceanThe Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
and southern Indian OceanIndian OceanThe Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
islands)
Section Pseudolycopodium
- Lycopodium deuterodensumLycopodium deuterodensumLycopodium deuterodensum known as the bushy clubmoss is an ancient plant occurring in eastern Australia, New Caledonia and New Zealand. It is a spore-bearing vascular plant up to a metre high...
, tree club moss (eastern AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, New CaledoniaNew CaledoniaNew Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...
, New ZealandNew ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
) — has appressed leaves; height approximately 600 mm
Section Pseudodiphasium
- Lycopodium spectabile (Java)
- Lycopodium volubile, climbing club moss (southwest Pacific Ocean islands (New Zealand north to Java), Australia (QueenslandQueenslandQueensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
)) — found along bush margins and disturbed ground; has a creeping habit and can climb up vegetation
Other Lycopodia
- Lycopodium alpinumLycopodium alpinumLycopodium alpinum is a species of clubmoss known by the common name alpine clubmoss. It has a circumboreal distribution, occurring throughout northern latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere. It is an indicator of alpine tundra and boreal climates....
(circumboreal) - Lycopodium assurgens (BrazilBrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
(Minas GeraisMinas GeraisMinas Gerais is one of the 26 states of Brazil, of which it is the second most populous, the third richest, and the fourth largest in area. Minas Gerais is the Brazilian state with the largest number of Presidents of Brazil, the current one, Dilma Rousseff, being one of them. The capital is the...
, Santa CatarinaSanta Catarina (state)Santa Catarina is a state in southern Brazil with one of the highest standards of living in Latin America. Its capital is Florianópolis, which mostly lies on the Santa Catarina Island. Neighbouring states are Rio Grande do Sul to the south and Paraná to the north. It is bounded on the east by...
)) - Lycopodium confertum (southern South America and the Falkland Islands)
- Lycopodium minchegense (southeast China (FujianFujian' , formerly romanised as Fukien or Huguing or Foukien, is a province on the southeast coast of mainland China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, and Guangdong to the south. Taiwan lies to the east, across the Taiwan Strait...
)) - Lycopodium paniculatum (southern South America (Andes))