Lycopodium carolinianum Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 2: 1101. 1753; Lepidotis caroliniana (Linnaeus) P. Beauvois; L. repens P. Beauvois; Lycopodium repens (P. Beauvois) Swartz; L. subinundatum Tagawa; Pseudolycopodiella caroliniana (Linnaeus) Holub.

Plants of marshes or wetlands. Aerial shoots creeping, 10-30 cm, forked, 2-5 mm in diam., stem together with leaves 7-12 mm wide. Leaves spirally arranged, sparser on creeping side of stem, dense, ascending, yellowish green, not lustrous, lanceolate, slightly bent at base, 5-10 × 1-2 mm, papery, both surfaces crimped, midrib indistinct, base not narrowed, decurrent, sessile, margin entire, apex acuminate. Peduncles solitary, erect, 8-15 cm tall, 10-15 mm wide; bracts sparse, subulate to lanceolate, obviously smaller than leaves of creeping stems, 3-5 × ca. 1 mm, papery, margin entire, apex acuminate, with long acute tip; strobilus yellow, terete, 2.5-5 cm, 3-4 mm in diam. (excluding sporophylls); sporophylls monomorphic, yellow, broadly ovate, imbricate, 4-5 mm, 2-2.5 mm wide at base, leathery, margin membranous, with irregular blunt teeth, apex acute, caudate. Sporangia enclosed, reniform, ca. 1.2 mm in diam.

Yizhang, Hunan, is the northernmost distribution limit of this species in China.

Marshes, wetlands on hillsides; 1000-1500 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Hunan [India, Japan, Sri Lanka; Africa, America].