Diphasiastrum alpinum(L.) Holub

alpine clubmoss

WFO wfo-0001111175 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Diphasiastrum alpinum, photographed by F Quiec
fig. a F Quiec, CC BY-SA 4.0 / 2022-06-11 / obs. 205681917

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
Smithsonian, US National Herbarium
Accession
US 3485115
Filed as
Diphasiastrum alpinum (L.) Holub
Det. by
Shetler, Stanwyn G., (US), NMNH
Collected
S. Shetler, E. R. Shetler & F. C. Dean 1963-07-24
Origin
US
The sheet
View the digitised specimen (CC0 1.0)

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 60 botanical countries

Regions where Diphasiastrum alpinum is native: Altay, Amur, Buryatiya, Chita, Irkutsk, Japan, Kamchatka, Kazakhstan, Khabarovsk, Korea, Krasnoyarsk, Kuril Is., Magadan, Manchuria, Mongolia, North Caucasus, Primorye, Sakhalin, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Tuva, West Siberia, Yakutiya, Austria, Bulgaria, Central European Russia, Czechia-Slovakia, East European Russia, Finland, Føroyar, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, North European Russia, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, Alaska, Alberta, British Columbia, Greenland, Idaho, Labrador, Manitoba, Montana, Newfoundland, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Québec, Washington, Yukon AltayAmurBuryatiyaChitaIrkutskJapanKamchatkaKazakhstanKhabarovskKrasnoyarskMagadanManchuriaMongoliaNorth CaucasusPrimoryeSakhalinTranscaucasusTürkiyeTuvaWest SiberiaYakutiyaAustriaBulgariaCentral European RussiaCzechia-SlovakiaEast European RussiaFinlandFranceGermanyHungaryIcelandIrelandItalyNorth European RussiaNorwayNW. Balkan Pen.PolandRomaniaSpainSwedenSwitzerlandUkraineAlaskaAlbertaBritish ColumbiaGreenlandIdahoLabradorManitobaMontanaNewfoundlandNorthwest TerritoriesNunavutQuébecWashingtonYukon KoreaFøroyar
Native distribution of Diphasiastrum alpinum, 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
Altay ALT ASIA-TEMPERATE
Amur AMU
Buryatiya BRY
Chita CTA
Irkutsk IRK
Japan JAP
Kamchatka KAM
Kazakhstan KAZ
Khabarovsk KHA
Korea KOR
Krasnoyarsk KRA
Kuril Is. KUR
Magadan MAG
Manchuria CHM
Mongolia MON
North Caucasus NCS
Primorye PRM
Sakhalin SAK
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR
Tuva TVA
West Siberia WSB
Yakutiya YAK
Austria AUT EUROPE
Bulgaria BUL
Central European Russia RUC
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
East European Russia RUE
Finland FIN
Føroyar FOR
France FRA
Germany GER
Great Britain GRB
Hungary HUN
Iceland ICE
Ireland IRE
Italy ITA
North European Russia RUN
Norway NOR
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
Romania ROM
Spain SPA
Sweden SWE
Switzerland SWI
Ukraine UKR
Alaska ASK NORTHERN AMERICA
Alberta ABT
British Columbia BRC
Greenland GNL
Idaho IDA
Labrador LAB
Manitoba MAN
Montana MNT
Newfoundland NFL
Northwest Territories NWT
Nunavut NUN
Québec QUE
Washington WAS
Yukon YUK

Not drawn on the map: Kuril Is., Great Britain. We hold no public-domain boundary for these regions, so they are 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 2,010 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -25.0 °C -14.5 °C -1.6 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 11.0 °C 14.5 °C 18.0 °C
Annual rainfall 710 mm 1,522 mm 3,165 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 84 mm 242 mm 483 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 2,010 research-grade observations of Diphasiastrum alpinum 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 15 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.

  • Diphasiastrum alpinum var. ergakense Stepanov
  • Diphasiastrum alpinum var. planiramulosum (Takeda) Satou
  • Diphasiastrum complanatum subsp. alpinum (L.) Jermy
  • Diphasiastrum kablikianum (Domin) Dostál
  • Diphasium alpinum (L.) Rothm.
  • Lepidotis alpina (L.) P.Beauv.
  • Lycopodium alpinum L.
  • Lycopodium alpinum f. umbrosum Porsild
  • Lycopodium alpinum subsp. cupressifolium (Opiz) Dostál
  • Lycopodium alpinum subsp. kablikianum Domin
  • Lycopodium alpinum var. planiramulosum Takeda
  • Lycopodium chamarense Turcz. ex Ledeb.
  • Lycopodium complanatum subsp. alpinum (L.) Hook.f.
  • Lycopodium cupressifolium Opiz
  • Stachygynandrum alpinum (L.) C.Presl

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.