Flat-branched tree club-moss, lycopode obscur

Horizontal stems subterranean. Upright shoots treelike, many branched, branchlets numerous and strongly differentiated; annual bud constrictions absent; leaves on main stem below lateral branchlets tightly appressed, needlelike, 3.5--4.5 X 0.6--0.7 mm, soft. Lateral branchlets flat in cross section, 6--9 mm diam.; annual bud constrictions inconspicuous. Leaves in 6 ranks, 1 on upperside, 4 lateral, ascending-spreading, 2.5--5.5 X 0.5--1.2 mm, and 1 on underside, much smaller than others, ascending; margins entire; apex lacking hair tip. Strobili 1--6 at tip of shoot, sessile, 12--60 mm. Sporophylls 3 X 2 mm, apex long, gradually narrowing. 2 n = 68.

Rich hardwood forests and successional shrubby areas; 0--1600 m; N.B., N.S., Ont., Que.; Ala., Conn., Del., Ga., Ky., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Ohio, Pa., N.H., N.J., N.Y., N.C., R.I., S.C., Tenn., Vt., Va., W.Va., Wis.