Lycopodium lagopusZinserl. ex Kuzen.

one-cone clubmossptarmigan clubmoss

WFO wfo-0001116197 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Lycopodium lagopus, photographed by F Quiec
fig. a F Quiec, CC BY-SA 4.0 / 2022-06-11 / obs. 205681145
Lycopodium lagopus, photographed by Yurii Basov
fig. b Yurii Basov, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 160981132
Lycopodium lagopus, photographed by Mary E. Macaulay, P.Eng.
fig. c Mary E. Macaulay, P.Eng., CC BY 4.0 / obs. 157242798
Lycopodium lagopus, photographed by Ellyne Geurts
fig. d Ellyne Geurts, CC0 1.0 / obs. 163370314
Lycopodium lagopus, photographed by Syd Cannings
fig. e Syd Cannings, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 144397699
Lycopodium lagopus, photographed by Jason Grant
fig. f Jason Grant, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 144045772
Lycopodium lagopus, photographed by Mary E. Macaulay, P.Eng.
fig. g Mary E. Macaulay, P.Eng., CC BY 4.0 / obs. 141029659
Lycopodium lagopus, photographed by Tero Linjama
fig. h Tero Linjama, CC0 1.0 / obs. 140385286

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
01116398
Filed as
Lycopodium lagopus (Laest. ex C.Hartm.) Zinserl. ex Kuzen.
Det. by
R. C. Moran 2017-01-01
Collected
D. E. Atha 2009-07-16
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. We link to the digitised sheet rather than rehosting it, because the holding institutions do not serve their images to third parties reliably and we are not going to show you a picture we cannot actually deliver. 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 sheets never recorded a determiner, which is ordinary.

Native range 53 botanical countries

Regions where Lycopodium lagopus is native: Altay, Buryatiya, Chita, Irkutsk, Kamchatka, Khabarovsk, Krasnoyarsk, Magadan, Primorye, Tuva, West Siberia, Yakutiya, Austria, East European Russia, Finland, Great Britain, Italy, North European Russia, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, Alaska, Alberta, British Columbia, Connecticut, Greenland, Illinois, Labrador, Maine, Manitoba, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, New York, Newfoundland, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Ohio, Ontario, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Prince Edward I., Québec, Saskatchewan, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, Yukon AltayBuryatiyaChitaIrkutskKamchatkaKhabarovskKrasnoyarskMagadanPrimoryeTuvaWest SiberiaYakutiyaAustriaEast European RussiaFinlandItalyNorth European RussiaNorwayPolandSwedenSwitzerlandAlaskaAlbertaBritish ColumbiaConnecticutGreenlandIllinoisLabradorMaineManitobaMassachusettsMichiganMinnesotaMontanaNew BrunswickNew HampshireNew YorkNewfoundlandNorthwest TerritoriesNova ScotiaNunavutOhioOntarioOregonPennsylvaniaPrince Edward I.QuébecSaskatchewanVermontWashingtonWisconsinYukon
Native distribution of Lycopodium lagopus, 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.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Alaska ASK NORTHERN AMERICA
Alberta ABT
British Columbia BRC
Connecticut CNT
Greenland GNL
Illinois ILL
Labrador LAB
Maine MAI
Manitoba MAN
Massachusetts MAS
Michigan MIC
Minnesota MIN
Montana MNT
New Brunswick NBR
New Hampshire NWH
New York NWY
Newfoundland NFL
Northwest Territories NWT
Nova Scotia NSC
Nunavut NUN
Ohio OHI
Ontario ONT
Oregon ORE
Pennsylvania PEN
Prince Edward I. PEI
Québec QUE
Saskatchewan SAS
Vermont VER
Washington WAS
Wisconsin WIS
Yukon YUK
Altay ALT ASIA-TEMPERATE
Buryatiya BRY
Chita CTA
Irkutsk IRK
Kamchatka KAM
Khabarovsk KHA
Krasnoyarsk KRA
Magadan MAG
Primorye PRM
Tuva TVA
West Siberia WSB
Yakutiya YAK
Austria AUT EUROPE
East European Russia RUE
Finland FIN
Great Britain GRB
Italy ITA
North European Russia RUN
Norway NOR
Poland POL
Sweden SWE
Switzerland SWI

Not drawn on the map: Great Britain. 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 1,306 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -27.0 °C -15.1 °C -8.3 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 13.0 °C 20.2 °C 25.3 °C
Annual rainfall 496 mm 997 mm 2,089 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 53 mm 162 mm 371 mm

It is found where winters are arctic. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 1,306 research-grade observations of Lycopodium lagopus 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 17 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.

  • Lycopodium clavatum f. furcatum Vict.
  • Lycopodium clavatum f. lagopus Laest.
  • Lycopodium clavatum f. monostachyum Hegi
  • Lycopodium clavatum subsp. lagopus (Laest.) Dostál
  • Lycopodium clavatum subsp. megastachyon (Fernald & Bissell) Á.Löve & D.Löve
  • Lycopodium clavatum subsp. monostachyon (Hook. & Grev.) Selander
  • Lycopodium clavatum var. brevispicatum Peck
  • Lycopodium clavatum var. integerrimum Spring
  • Lycopodium clavatum var. integrifolium (Hook. ex Goldie) Spring
  • Lycopodium clavatum var. integrifolium (Hook. ex Goldie) Nessel
  • Lycopodium clavatum var. lagopus Laest. ex C.Hartm.
  • Lycopodium clavatum var. megastachyon Fernald & Bissell
  • Lycopodium clavatum var. monostachyon Hook. & Grev.
  • Lycopodium clavatum var. monostachyum Desv.
  • Lycopodium clavatum var. monostachyum Schur
  • Lycopodium integrifolium Hook. ex Goldie
  • Lycopodium pseudoannotinum Schur

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.