Lycopodium miyoshianum Makino, Bot. Mag. (Tokyo) 12: 36. 1898; Huperzia miyoshiana var. coreana (Hayata) Ching; L. miyoshianum var. coreanum Hayata; L. selago Linnaeus subsp. miyoshianum (Makino) Calder & Roy L. Taylor; L. selago var. miyoshianum (Makino) Makino; L. tenuifolium Herter; Urostachys miyoshianus (Makino) Herter ex Nessel.

Plants terrestrial. Stem erect or ascending, 10-18 cm, 1.5-2.5 mm in diam. at middle, together with leaves 0.7-0.9 cm wide, 2-4 times dichotomously branched, upper portion often with bulbils. Leaves dense, slightly angled upward or attached at right angles with stem, or slightly reflexed, lustrous, linear-subulate, not contracted toward base, widest at base, straight, 4-6 mm, ca. 0.8 mm wide at base, papery, both surfaces glabrous, midrib indistinct, base truncate, decurrent, sessile, margin entire, straight and not crispate, apex acuminate. Sporophylls homomorphic with trophophylls; sporangia visible on both sides of sporophylls, yellowish, reniform.

Many pteridologists regarded Huperzia miyoshiana as a synonym of H. chinensis, but, more recently, most think that these two species differ in distribution and morphology.

"Lycopodium chinense Christ, Fl. URSS 1: 115. 1934" is probably a misapplied name for Huperzia miyoshiana.

The leaves of Huperzia miyoshiana differ from those of H. chinensis in being densely arranged and subulate.

Wet places and/or among moss in forests; 1000-2200 m. Heilongjiang, Jilin [Japan, Korea; E North America].