Image of stiff clubmoss

Description:

Slo.: brinolistni lisijak - Family: Lycopodiaceae (Clubmoss Family) - Habitat: Fagus sylvatica woods with scattered Picea abies; almost flat terrain; calcareous, colluvial, skeletal ground; in shade, rather cool and humid place; partly protected from direct rain by tree canopies; average precipitations ~ 3.000 mm/year, average temperature 3-5 deg C, elevation 950 m (3.100 feet), alpine phytogeographical region. Substratum: soil. Comment: Lycopodium annotinum is a broadly distributed, circumpolar plant, however, protected in Slovenia. It is a species loving cold climate. It can be found also north of tree line in arctic America. In spite of its English name it is not a moss but a fern. Its long, stalk less spore bearing parts are like elongated cones. Spore clusters are situated in axils of yellowish to greenish (when fresh), slender-pointed bracts, tightly clustered in cone. The cones on these pictures have already discharged their spore clusters. Only widely open, dry, brownish bracts are visible. Protected according to: Uredba o zavarovanih prostoiveih rastlinskih vrstah, poglavje A, Uradni list RS, t. 46/2004 (Regulation of protected wild plants, chapter A, Official Gazette of Republic Slovenia, no. 46/2004), (2004). Ref.: (1) D. Aeschimann, K. Lauber, D.M. Moser, J.P. Theurillat, Flora Alpina, Vol. 1., Haupt (2004), p 48. (2) M.A. Fischer, W. Adler, K. Oswald, Exkursionsflora fr sterreich, Liechtenstein und Sdtirol, LO Landesmuseen, Linz, Austria (2005), p 226. (3) A. Martini et all., Mala Flora Slovenije (Flora of Slovenia - Key) (in Slovenian), Tehnina Zaloba Slovenije (2007), p 85.