Lycophytes: Lycopodiales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Diphasiastrum digitatum
FAMILY
Lycopodiaceae
Go to FSUS key
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
Learn more about Diphasiastrum from the Vascular Plants of North Carolina website.
Read about the ancient and interesting fern allies known as clubmosses from the Prince William Wildflower Society.
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Lycopodium digitatum
FAMILY
Lycopodiaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America
Diphasiastrum digitatum
SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 003-01-010:
Lycopodium flabelliforme FAMILY Lycopodiaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Ferns of the Southeastern States (Small, 1938)
Lycopodium flabelliforme
COMMON NAME:
Southern Ground-cedar, Common Running-cedar, Fan Ground-pine, Running Ground-pine
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
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JK Marlow jkm170103_055
January Greenville County SC
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JK Marlow jkm070325_004
March Greenville County SC
Multi-branched vertical stems have fan-shaped branches in a horizontal plane, per Wildflowers & Plant Communities of the Southern Appalachian Mountains and Piedmont (Spira, 2011).
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JK Marlow s070325_a
March Greenville County SC
Digitatum means "with branchlets radiating... like long fingers", per Field Guide to the Ferns and Other Pteridophytes of Georgia (Snyder & Bruce, 1986).
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JK Marlow jkm160504_436
May Jackson County NC
Panthertown
Here next to Dendrolycopodium obscurum (Lycopodium obscurum).
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JK Marlow jkm220525_8016
May Greenville County SC
Green Mountain Preserve
Vertical stems arise from horizontal stems on or just below soil surface, per Wildflowers & Plant Communities of the Southern Appalachian Mountains and Piedmont (Spira, 2011).
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JK Marlow jkm220525_8081
May Greenville County SC
Green Mountain Preserve
Foliage is a rich green, per Ferns of the Smokies (Evans, 2005).
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Keith Bradley kab_d_digitatum_77823
June McDowell County NC
Blue Ridge Parkway
Lateral branches fanlike, flattened in cross-section, per Peterson Field Guide to Ferns of Northeastern and Central North America.
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Patrick D. McMillan pdmddigitatum_brp2341
June Alleghaney County NC
Blue Ridge Parkway
Stalk usually twice forked, bearing 2-4 strobili in a false whorl, per Peterson Field Guide to Ferns of Northeastern and Central North America.
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JK Marlow jkm0007b_20
July Greenville County SC
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JK Marlow jkm130927_597
September Jackson County NC
Horizontal stems creeping on soil surface or in leaf litter, per Peterson Field Guide to Ferns of Northeastern and Central North America.
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Diphasiastrum digitatum
FAMILY
Lycopodiaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Lycopodium digitatum
FAMILY
Lycopodiaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Flora of North America
Diphasiastrum digitatum
SYNONYMOUS WITH
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 003-01-010:
Lycopodium flabelliforme
FAMILY
Lycopodiaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Ferns of the Southeastern States (Small, 1938)
Lycopodium flabelliforme
877
Fern/Fern ally
Perennial
Habitat: Dry to mesic, usually acid forests and openings, especially common in disturbed sites, such as successional pine forests, per Weakley's Flora
Native to the Carolinas & Georgia
Common (uncommon in Carolina Coastal Plain) (rare in GA Coastal Plain)
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.
LEAVES:
Evergreen
Simple - tiny
Leaves 4-ranked, upper and lower ranks smaller than lateral
FRUIT:
Summer/Fall
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- Field Guide to the Ferns and Other Pteridophytes of Georgia (Snyder & Bruce, 1986) p212
- Ferns of Alabama (Short & Spaulding, 2012) p067
- Ferns of the Smokies (Evans, 2005) p30
- Gardening with Native Plants of the South (Wasowski & Wasowski, 1994, 2020) p110
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 1st ed. (Porcher & Rayner, 2001) p214
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 2nd ed. (McMillan, Porcher, Rayner, & White; 2022) p174
- Peterson Field Guide to Ferns of Northeastern and Central North America p296
- Wildflowers & Plant Communities of the Southern Appalachian Mountains and Piedmont (Spira, 2011) p364
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