Lycopodium alticola Ching; L. annotinum Linnaeus var. acicularis Christ; L. annotinum f. brevifolium Christ.

Stolons slender and creeping, up to 1.8 m, green, with sparse leaves; lateral branches ascending, 8-15 cm tall, 1-3 times forked, sparse, whole branches terete, stem together with leaves 7-11 mm in diam. Leaves spirally arranged, dense, angled upward and amplexicaul, lanceolate, 3.5-5 × 0.6-1.2 mm, leathery, midrib indistinct abaxially, visible adaxially, without transparent hairs, base cuneate, decurrent, sessile, margin entire, apex acuminate. Strobili solitary, terminal on branchlets, erect, terete, sessile, 2-3 cm × ca. 4 mm; sporophylls broadly ovate, ca. 3 × 2 mm, thinly leathery, with only narrow transparent membranous margin, apex acute. Sporangia enclosed.

Because there are no critical differences in the morphology and habitat between Lycopodium alticola and L. zonatum, the former is here treated as a synonym of the latter.

Lycopodium zonatum seems to be an ecological substitute of L. annotinum in W alpine areas.

This species is small, and its leaves are densely arranged, strongly ascending, with entire margins.

● Shaanxi, Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan [?India].