Prickly tree club-moss, lycopode dendroïde

Lycopodium obscurum Linnaeus var. dendroideum (Michaux) D. C. Eaton

Horizontal stems subterranean. Upright shoots treelike, many branched, branchlets numerous and strongly differentiated; annual bud constrictions absent; leaves spreading, pale green below lateral branchlets, prickly needlelike, 3.5--4 X 0.9--1 mm. Lateral branchlets round in cross section, 5--8 mm diam.; annual bud constrictions inconspicuous; leaves spreading to ascending, pale green, in 6 ranks, 2 upperside, 2 lateral, and 2 underside, equal in size, linear, 2.4--5.5 X 0.5--1.2 mm; margins entire; apex acuminate, lacking hair tip. Strobili sessile, 1--7 on tip of upright shoot, 12--55 mm. Sporophylls 3.5 X 3.5 mm, apex short, acute, abruptly narrowing. 2 n = 68.

Dry woodlands and second-growth shrubby areas; 50--1800 m; St. Pierre and Miquelon; Alta., B.C., Man., N.B., Nfld., N.W.T., N.S., Ont., P.E.I., Que., Sask., Yukon; Alaska, Conn., Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Mass., Mich., Minn., Mo., Mont., N.H., N.Y., Pa., S.Dak., Vt., Va., Wash., W.Va., Wis., Wyo.; Asia.