Dendrolycopodium dendroideum(Michx.) A.Haines

prickly tree clubmosstree ground-pinetree groundpine

WFO wfo-0001279655 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Dendrolycopodium dendroideum, photographed by Bruce Cook
fig. a Bruce Cook, CC0 1.0 / 2022-05-29 / obs. 201675394

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

The specimen a real sheet, in a real collection

Herbarium
The New York Botanical Garden
Accession
3148213
Filed as
Dendrolycopodium dendroideum (Michx.) A.Haines
Det. by
R. C. Moran 2017-01-01
Collected
P. Majestyk 2002-04-26
Origin
US
The sheet
View the digitised specimen (CC BY 4.0)

A real pressed plant, in a real collection, under the accession number above. Not an illustration of one. The holding institution does not serve this sheet’s image to third parties, so there is no photograph here. The record is real and the link goes to it. Where we hold no openly licensed sheet for a species this section is simply absent, and where a sheet never recorded who determined it, that field stays empty rather than being filled in. Roughly half of all herbarium sheets never recorded a determiner, which is ordinary.

Native range 54 botanical countries

Regions where Dendrolycopodium dendroideum is native: Amur, China North-Central, China South-Central, China Southeast, Japan, Khabarovsk, Korea, Kuril Is., Primorye, Sakhalin, Tibet, East Himalaya, Alabama, Alaska, Alberta, British Columbia, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Labrador, Maine, Manitoba, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Newfoundland, North Carolina, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Ohio, Ontario, Pennsylvania, Prince Edward I., Québec, Rhode I., Saskatchewan, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Yukon AmurChina North-CentralChina South-CentralChina SoutheastJapanKhabarovskPrimoryeSakhalinTibetEast HimalayaAlabamaAlaskaAlbertaBritish ColumbiaConnecticutIdahoIllinoisIndianaIowaLabradorMaineManitobaMarylandMassachusettsMichiganMinnesotaMissouriMontanaNew BrunswickNew HampshireNew JerseyNew YorkNewfoundlandNorth CarolinaNorthwest TerritoriesNova ScotiaOhioOntarioPennsylvaniaPrince Edward I.QuébecSaskatchewanSouth DakotaTennesseeVermontVirginiaWashingtonWest VirginiaWisconsinWyomingYukon KoreaRhode I.
Native distribution of Dendrolycopodium dendroideum, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Alabama ALA NORTHERN AMERICA
Alaska ASK
Alberta ABT
British Columbia BRC
Connecticut CNT
Idaho IDA
Illinois ILL
Indiana INI
Iowa IOW
Labrador LAB
Maine MAI
Manitoba MAN
Maryland MRY
Massachusetts MAS
Michigan MIC
Minnesota MIN
Missouri MSO
Montana MNT
New Brunswick NBR
New Hampshire NWH
New Jersey NWJ
New York NWY
Newfoundland NFL
North Carolina NCA
Northwest Territories NWT
Nova Scotia NSC
Ohio OHI
Ontario ONT
Pennsylvania PEN
Prince Edward I. PEI
Québec QUE
Rhode I. RHO
Saskatchewan SAS
South Dakota SDA
Tennessee TEN
Vermont VER
Virginia VRG
Washington WAS
West Virginia WVA
Wisconsin WIS
Wyoming WYO
Yukon YUK
Amur AMU ASIA-TEMPERATE
China North-Central CHN
China South-Central CHC
China Southeast CHS
Japan JAP
Khabarovsk KHA
Korea KOR
Kuril Is. KUR
Primorye PRM
Sakhalin SAK
Tibet CHT
East Himalaya EHM ASIA-TROPICAL

Not drawn on the map: Kuril Is.. We hold no public-domain boundary for this region, so it is listed rather than guessed at.

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Where it actually grows measured, from 2,007 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -18.7 °C -13.5 °C -0.9 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 18.8 °C 23.3 °C 26.8 °C
Annual rainfall 673 mm 1,104 mm 3,155 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 64 mm 215 mm 395 mm

It is found where winters are severely cold. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 2,007 research-grade observations of Dendrolycopodium dendroideum that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.

Also published as 5 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Lepidotis dendroidea (Michx.) P.Beauv.
  • Lycopodium dendroideum Michx.
  • Lycopodium obscurum f. dendroideum (Michx.) H.L.Blomq. & Correll
  • Lycopodium obscurum var. dendroideum (Michx.) D.C.Eaton
  • Lycopodium obscurum var. hybridum Farw.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.