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Lycopodium

 
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Lycopodium
 
 
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Lycopodium is a genus
Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
 of clubmosses, also known as ground pines, 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 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 reproduction structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to mediate the union of male sperm with female ovum in order to produce seeds....
less, vascular, terrestrial or epiphytic plant
Plant

Plants are Life organisms belonging to the Kingdom Plantae. They include familiar organisms such as trees, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae....
s, with widely-branched, erect, prostrate or creeping stems, with small, simple, needle-like or scale-like leaves
Leaf

In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant Organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin, to expose the cells containing chloroplast to light over a broad area, and to allow light to penetrate fully into the tissues....
 that cover the stem and branches thickly. The fertile leaves are arranged in cone-like strobili.






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Lycopodium is a genus
Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
 of clubmosses, also known as ground pines, 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 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 reproduction structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to mediate the union of male sperm with female ovum in order to produce seeds....
less, vascular, terrestrial or epiphytic plant
Plant

Plants are Life organisms belonging to the Kingdom Plantae. They include familiar organisms such as trees, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae....
s, with widely-branched, erect, prostrate or creeping stems, with small, simple, needle-like or scale-like leaves
Leaf

In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant Organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin, to expose the cells containing chloroplast to light over a broad area, and to allow light to penetrate fully into the tissues....
 that cover the stem and branches thickly. The fertile leaves are arranged in cone-like strobili. Specialized leaves (sporophylls) bear reniform spore
Spore

In biology, a spore is a reproduction structure that is adapted for biological dispersal and surviving for extended periods of time in unfavorable conditions....
-cases (sporangia) in the axils, which contain spores of one kind only. These club-shaped capsules give the genus its 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 gamete during fertilization in organisms that sexual reproduction. In species which produce two morphologically distinct types of gametes, and in which each individual produces only one type, a female is any individual which produces the larger type of gamete?called an ovum ?and a male produces th...
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 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 Psilotophyta....
 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

A mountain is a landform that stretches above the surrounding land in a limited area usually in the form of a peak. A mountain is generally steeper than a hill....
s in the tropics.

Lycopodium powder

The term Lycopodium is also used to describe the yellowish, powdery spores of certain club mosses, especially Lycopodium clavatum
Lycopodium clavatum

Lycopodium clavatum is the most widespread species in the genus Lycopodium of the clubmoss family Lycopodiaceae.It is a spore-bearing vascular plant, growing mainly prostrate along the ground with stems up to 1 m long; the stems are much branched, and densely clothed with small spirally-arranged leaf....
, used in the past in fireworks
Fireworks

A firework is classified as a low explosive material pyrotechnics device used primarily for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. The most common use of a firework is as part of a fireworks display....
, photographic flash powder
Flash powder

Flash powder is pyrotechnic composition, a mixture of oxidizer and metallic fuel which burns quickly and if confined will produce a loud report....
, fingerprint powders, as a covering for pill
Pill

Pill or the pill may refer to:* A ball, or anything small and round, the origin of the now-obselete term pill , referring to a specific dose of medicine....
s and explosives. The term "Lycopodium mask" is sometimes used to describe a type of flamethrower-mask worn by some music bands or artists on stage. In physics
Physics

Physics is the natural science which examines basic concepts such as energy, force, and spacetime and all that derives from these, such as mass, charge, matter and its Motion ....
 experiments, the powder is also used to make sound-waves in air visible for observation and measurement, and to make a pattern of electrostatic charge visible. For example, Chester Carlson
Chester Carlson

Chester Floyd Carlson was an United States physicist, inventor, and patent attorney born in Seattle, Washington.He is best known for having invented the process of electrophotography, which produced a dry copy rather than a wet copy, as was produced by the mimeograph process....
 used lycopodium powder in his early experiments to demonstrate xerography
Xerography

Xerography is a photocopying technique developed by Chester Carlson in 1938 and patented on October 6, 1942. He received for his invention. Although dry electrostatic printing processes had been invented as far back as 1778 by Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, Carlson's innovation combined electrostatic printing with photography....
.

It is also used as an ice cream stabilizer.

Species

  • Lycopodium aberdaricum (central and southern Africa
    Africa

    Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km? 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 America
    South America

    South America is the southern continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere....
     and the Falkland Islands
    Falkland Islands

    The Falkland Islands are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, located from the coast of Argentina, west of the Shag Rocks , and north of the British Antarctic Territory ....
    )
  • Lycopodium alticola (southwest China
    China

    China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
    )
  • Lycopodium annotinum
    Lycopodium annotinum

    Lycopodium annotinum L. is a species of clubmoss native to forests of the Holarctic Kingdom....
     (Interrupted Clubmoss; circumpolar north temperate)
  • Lycopodium assurgens (Brazil
    Brazil

    Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the List of countries by population country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world....
     (Minas Gerais
    Minas Gerais

    Minas Gerais was so named for its great riches in the mining industry. It is one of the 26 states of Brazil of Brazil, the second most populous and fourth largest by area in the federation....
    , Santa Catarina
    Santa Catarina (state)

    is a States of Brazil in southern Brazil with one of the highest standards of living in the country. Its capital is Florian?polis, which mostly lies on the Santa Catarina Island....
    ))
  • Lycopodium casuarinoides (southeast Asia
    Asia

    Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
     (Japan
    Japan

    Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of 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 Bhutan
    Bhutan

    The Kingdom of Bhutan is a landlocked nation in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalaya Mountains and is bordered to the south, east and west by India and to the north by the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China....
     and Borneo
    Borneo

    Borneo is the List of islands by area and is located at the centre of Maritime Southeast Asia. Administratively, this island is divided between Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei....
    ))
  • Lycopodium centrochinense (east Asia (central China to India and the Philippines
    Philippines

    The Philippines, officially known as the Republic of the Philippines, is a country in Southeast Asia with Manila as its capital city. It comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean....
    )
  • Lypocodium cernuum creeping club moss (lowland mixed forest) — found along bush margins or disturbed ground; height approximately 400 mm
  • Lycopodium clavatum
    Lycopodium clavatum

    Lycopodium clavatum is the most widespread species in the genus Lycopodium of the clubmoss family Lycopodiaceae.It is a spore-bearing vascular plant, growing mainly prostrate along the ground with stems up to 1 m long; the stems are much branched, and densely clothed with small spirally-arranged leaf....
     (Stag's-horn Clubmoss; subcosmopolitan, see separate page for details)
  • Lycopodium confertum (southern South America and the Falkland Islands)
  • Lycopodium dendroideum (northern North America
    North America

    North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
    )
  • Lycopodium deuterodensum, tree club moss (eastern Australia
    Australia

    Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
    , New Caledonia
    New Caledonia

    New Caledonia , is a "sui generis collectivity" of France located in the subregion of Melanesia in the Oceania. It comprises a main island , the Loyalty Islands, and several smaller islands....
    , New Zealand
    New Zealand

    New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous Islands of New Zealand, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands....
    ) — has appressed leaves; height approximately 600 mm
  • Lycopodium diaphanum (Tristan da Cunha
    Tristan da Cunha

    Tristan da Cunha is a remote volcanic group of islands in the south Atlantic Ocean, 2,816 km from South Africa and 3,360 km from South America....
    )
  • Lycopodium dubium (cold temperate and subarctic Europe
    Europe

    Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
     and Asia
    Asia

    Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
    ; treated as a synonym of L. annotinum by some authors)
  • Lycopodium fastigiatum (southeastern Australia, New Zealand)
  • Lycopodium gayanum (south-central Chile
    Chile

    Chile, officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long and narrow coastal strip wedged between the Andes mountains and the Pacific Ocean....
     and adjacent westernmost Argentina
    Argentina

    Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is a country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city....
    )
  • Lycopodium hickeyi (northeastern North America)
  • Lycopodium hygrophilum (New Guinea
    New Guinea

    New Guinea, located just north of Australia, is the List of islands by area, having become separated from the Australian mainland when the area now known as the Torres Strait flooded after the last glacial period....
    )
  • Lycopodium interjectum (southwest China (Sichuan
    Sichuan

    is a Province in western China proper with its capital in Chengdu. The current name of the province, ?? , is an abbreviation of ??? , or "Four circuit #Circuits in East Asia of rivers", which is itself abbreviated from ???? , or "Four circuits of rivers and gorges", named after the division of the existing circuit into four during the Song...
    ))
  • Lycopodium japonicum (eastern Asia (Japan west and south to India
    India

    India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
     and Sri Lanka
    Sri Lanka

    Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is an island country in South Asia, located about off the southern coast of India....
    ))
  • Lycopodium juniperoideum (northeast Asia (central Siberia
    Siberia

    Siberia , is the name given to the vast region constituting almost all of North Asia and for the most part currently serving as the massive central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, having served in the same capacity previously for the Soviet Union from its beginning, and the Russian Empire beginning in the 16th century....
     southeast to Taiwan
    Taiwan

    Taiwan is an island in East Asia. "Taiwan" is also commonly used to refer to the country governed by the Republic of China and to the ROC itself, which governs the island of Taiwan, Orchid Island and Green Island, Taiwan in the Pacific Ocean off the Taiwan coast, the Penghu islands in the Taiwan Strait, and Kinmen and the Matsu Islands...
    ))
  • Lycopodium jussiaei (northern South America, Caribbean
    Caribbean

    The Caribbean is a region consisting of the Caribbean Sea, its islands , and the surrounding coasts. The region is located southeast of the Gulf of Mexico and Northern America, east of Central America, and to the north of South America....
    )
  • Lycopodium lagopus (circumpolar arctic and subarctic)
  • Lypocodium lucidulum, shining club moss (North America) — occurs in wet woods and among rocks; has no distinct strobili; bears its spore capsules at the bases of leaves scattered along the branches
  • Lycopodium magellanicum (South and Central America (Andes
    Andes

    The Andes form the world's longest exposed mountain range. They lie as a continuous chain of highland along the western coast of South America. The range is over 7,000 km long, 200-700 km wide , and of an average height of about 4,000 m ....
    ), southern Atlantic Ocean
    Atlantic Ocean

    The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions; with a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres . It covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface....
     and southern Indian Ocean
    Indian Ocean

    The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering about 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by Asia ; on the west by Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and Australia; and on the south by the Southern Ocean ....
     islands)
  • Lycopodium minchegense (southeast China (Fujian
    Fujian

    is one of the Province of China on the southeast coast of People's Republic of China. Fujian borders Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, and Guangdong to the south....
    ))
  • Lycopodium obscurum (northeast North America, northeast Asia)
  • Lycopodium paniculatum (southern South America (Andes))
  • Lycopodium papuanum (New Guinea)
  • Lycopodium pullei (New Guinea)
  • Lycopodium scariosum (southeastern Australia, New Zealand, Borneo (Mount Kinabalu
    Mount Kinabalu

    Mount Kinabalu is a prominent mountain in Southeast Asia. It is located in Kinabalu National Park in the east Malaysian state of Sabah, which is on the island of Borneo in the tropics....
    ))
  • Lycopodium selago (uplands of western Europe)
  • Lycopodium simulans (southwest China (Yunnan))
  • Lycopodium spectabile (Java)
  • Lycopodium subarcticum (northeast Siberia)
  • Lycopodium taliense (southwest China (Yunnan))
  • Lycopodium venustulum (Hawaii
    Hawaii

    File:Pahoehoe and Aa flows at Hawaii.jpgThe State of Hawaii is a U.S. state in the United States, located on an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of Australia....
    , Western Samoa, Society Islands
    Society Islands

    The Society Islands are a group of islands in the south Pacific Ocean. They are an administrative 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; however, Cook states in his journal th...
    )
  • Lycopodium vestitum (northwest South America (Andes))
  • Lycopodium volubile, climbing club moss (southwest Pacific Ocean islands (New Zealand north to Java), Australia (Queensland
    Queensland

    Queensland is a States and territories of Australia of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory to the west, South Australia to the south-west and New South Wales to the south....
    )) — found along bush margins and disturbed ground; has a creeping habit and can climb up vegetation
  • Lycopodium zonatum (southeast Tibet
    Tibet

    Tibet is a Tibetan Plateau in Asia, north of the Himalayas, and the home to the indigenous Tibetan people and its related ethnic groups. With an average elevation of 4,900 metres , it is the highest region on Earth and has in recent decades increasingly been referred to as the "Roof of the World"....
    )


External links

  • (takes a broad view of the genus, including the species here separated in the genus 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....
    )
  • by Kevin A. Boudreaux