(stiff clubmoss)
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Photo of Lycopodium annotinum by Carl Roland
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Lycopodium annotinum is a perennial, creeping clubmoss with
sessile strobili (cone-like reproductive structures) that occurs widely in Denali in forest, bogs, shrublands and alpine heaths. Plants are mostly prostrate, stems spreading widely, but reaching 5-25 cm off the ground. Stems increase in height each year, each year's growth marked by a distinct leafless patch on the stem that looks like a constriction. Plants eventually branch, but never reach the fan-like growth pattern of
Diphasiastrum species. Leaves are needle-like, 8-ranked, with
toothed margins, thin compared to other clubmoss leaves. Leaves protrude away from the stem, giving it a bottlebrush-like appearance. The strobili sessile (without naked stalk) on the tips of the vertical branches, separating it from the similar
Lycopodium lagopus, which has stalked strobili.
Lycopodium annnotinum is an perennial evergreen plant and can begin photosynthesis soon after the snow melts. Strobili are usually produced mid-summer.
The visible portion of
Lycopodium annotinum is a diploid
sporophyte. Like all clubmosses, these plants are produced from a haploid lifecycle, which lives underground and is entirely dependent on
mycorrhizae for its survival. The haploid
gametophyte self-fertilizes and produces an independent, photosynthetic
sporophyte (the plant described and pictured).
sporophytes produce single-celled spores, which are wind-dispersed and develop into new underground
gametophytes.
The clubmosses (Diphasiastrum and Lycopodium are used by the Dena'ina to make an eye wash (Kari 1995). Other species in these genera which occur primarily in forested areas were used medicinally by indigenous people throughout North America and Europe (Moerman 1998, Schofield 1989).
Disclaimer for Known Uses.
Lycopodium annotinum is a widespread circumboreal species. In North America, this species is widely distributed from Greenland and Labrador west to Alaska, south to the northwestern U.S., Rocky Mountains, Great Lakes States, New England, and along the Appalachian chain. In Alaska this species can be found statewide, except it is rare on the Arctic slope. In Denali, L. annotinum is common park wide, occurring in suitable habitat on both sides of the Alaska Range.
Details are shown in the Plots & Charts found at right, depicting recent Denali data.
In Denali, Lycopodium annotinum is found at elevations from 91 m to 1301 m with an average elevation of 638 m. It grew at higher elevations, and on steeper slopes on north-facing aspects. It is most commonly found on moderately steep slopes (4 to 28 degrees).
Details are shown in the Plots & Charts found at right. For more on how to interpret these figures, visit Understanding Data Presented.
L. annotinumgrows in moist forests, heath, subalpine slopes, and exposed rocky places.
Wide-ranging; wet to somewhat dry sites.
