Huperzia lucidula

Shining Clubmoss

Shining Clubmoss
Sawbill Lake, BWCAW
Photo © 2002 by Earl J.S. Rook

Flora, fauna, earth, and sky...
The natural history of the northwoods

Name:

• Huperzia, for Johann Peter Huperz (d. 1816) a German fern horticulturist
• lucidula, from the Latin, "shining"
• Shining Clubmoss, a reference to its bright green color
• Other common names include Trailing Evergreen Clubmoss, Huperzie Brillant, Lycopode Brillant (Qué)

Taxonomy:

• Kingdom Plantae, the Plants
  • Division Lycopodiophyta, the Clubmosses
    • Class Lycopodiopsida, the Clubmosses
      • Order Lycopodiales, the Clubmosses
        • Family Lycopodiaceae, the Clubmosses
          • Genus Huperzia, the Fir Clubmosses
• Taxonomic Serial Number: 503079
• Also known as Huperzia selago ssp. lucidula, Lycopodium lucidulum, Lycopodium reflexum, Urostachys lucidulus

Description:

• A bright evergreen, rhizomatous clubmoss, growing in loose tufts to 6" tall.
• Roots from creeping, branching, underground rhizome
• Shoots erect with few branches, becoming decumbent, with long, trailing, senescent portion turning brown; apparent indentation from bands of shorter leaves marks annual growth. Bulblet forming branchlets produced at end of each annual growth cycle; gemmae 4-6mm x 3-6mm
• Leaves about 3/8" long and spreading; narrow, lance shaped, shiny, and evergreen. Edges irregularly toothed.
• Cones absent
• Sporangia (spore cases) nestled in base of upper leaves.

Identification:

• Identifiable as Huperzia by
  • absence of horizontal, running surface stems
  • clustered upright shoots; not tree-like
  • absence of spore-bearing cones
• Distinguished from other North Country Huperzia by
  • leaves 3/8" long with slightly toothed edges (other species' leaves about 1/8" long with smooth edges)
  • bright green color
  • stems about 6" long (other species tend to be less than 4")

Distribution:

• Manitoba to Newfoundland, south to Missouri and the Carolinas.

Habitat:

• Cool, moist coniferous and mixed hardwood forests, bog and stream edges, hillsides; rich acid soils.
• Occasionally cliffs and ledges, on rock on shady, mossy, acidic sandstone.

Fire:

Associates:

History:

Uses:

Reproduction:

• By spores and vegetatively by rhizomes.
• Huperzia species also reproduce by bulblets (gemma) produced at base of upper leaves which, when mature, fall to ground and sprout to form new plants.

Propagation:

• Very difficult

Cultivation:

• Clubmosses can make attractive ground covers, but do not transplant well and transplantation is not recommended.

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