Diphasiastrum tristachyum

Diphasiastrum tristachyum
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Lycopodiophyta
Class: Lycopodiopsida
Order: Lycopodiales
Family: Lycopodiaceae
Genus: Diphasiastrum
Species: D. tristachyum
Binomial name
Diphasiastrum tristachyum
(Pursh) Holub 1975
Synonyms[1]

Diphasiastrum tristachyum, commonly known as blue clubmoss or blue ground-cedar, is a North American and Eurasian species of clubmoss. In North America, it has been found from Newfoundland west to Manitoba, and south as far as Georgia and Alabama. In Eurasia, it ranges from southern Norway and Sweden south to France and Italy and it also occurs in the Caucasus.[1][2]

Upright stems can be 30 cm (12 in) tall or higher, and peduncles often branch two times to form four strobili. It has squarish short branches each are 1–2.2 mm (0.039–0.087 in) wide. The blue-green leaves are four-ranked and lanceolate to subulate. It can be distinguished from similar species by annual constrictions along these branches.[3] It prefers dry clearings and woods, and is known to grow in sandy soils. Shade forms are more diffusely branched than sun forms, but branchlets are always more rounded than those of either D. complanatum or D. digitatum.

References

  1. 1 2 Family Lycopodiaceae, genus Lycopodium; world species list
  2. ↑ Altervista Flora Italiana, Lycopodium tristachyum Pursh includes line drawing, European distribution map
  3. ↑ Cody, William; Britton, Donald (1989). Ferns and Fern Allies of Canada. Agriculture Canada.


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