Lycopodiums. You mean like this?

Yeah that looks like Lycopodium dendroideum or is commonly called Ground Pine.

Nice photo of it with strobili in its habitat!

Have lots of these in the wild in NC, but I have not tried growing in pots. You did a great deal of work. Wish more people here in NC could appreciate these lovely plants. They can be beautiful as a ground cover in the right place.

Thanks for your comment ncrescue. While I tend to agree with the species being an asset within the right location in a garden they are not suited to the realities of most gardens but perhaps more so to that of estate gardens and botanic gardens. It is surprising to me that the many species of lycophytes are not generally found within botanic gardens as there is a general tendency to support more ornate native species that can be admired by the general public whereas the lower plants such as ferns, mosses, and lycophytes are seen as "greenery" and as a nuisance by some, especially in the Pacific Northwest!! So as the adage says "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." Even for the lowly plants that contribute to the enrichment of our natural environments.

Terrestrialman, I'd like to grow lycopodiums, but how do you find plants or spores? I don't see anything available online.

Apart from tropical epiphytic species that are available from specialty online stores, try ebay for native terrestrial species. They may appear from time to time.

Thanks! I'm interested in something native to my area, but I've never seen any native lycopodium around here. There are plenty of mosses, ferns, and equisetum tho. I have to research where they are located.

There are a lot of species within the concept "Lycopodium". Here is a link to the USDA page on Lycopodium. Be sure to click on the upper right tab called SHOW ALL as that will open up a series of maps showing the distribution range of those species listed in the genera Lycopodium.

Lycopodium at USDA Plants

With lycopodiums of various genera what is important is habitat.

The lack of understanding of what is happening with the plant growing in its habitat and what allows for its successful growth within that habitat are key to being able to find a suitable medium to cultivate. From spores it would be extremely difficult as specific fungal species are vital in the success of the germination and survival of the young sporophyte. For specifics on the species within your area of interest you would need to locate a flora on the native plants of that region.

I did forget to include a source that has sold divisions of a couple of species though I have misplaced the latest catalog and cannot recall if they still do or not. You can contact

Orchid Gardens, 2232 139th Ave., N.W., Andover, MN 55304. They sell an assortment of

plants native to the region. The catalog is priced at a dollar.

I do not encourage collecting any of the lycopods from the wild as their culture is exacting and successful native populations should be protected in most states by law. Check online for scientists who are studying these plants and seek out what information they will be willing to share. I do believe that developing a successful cultivation of these various species is necessary to insure their long term survival. good luck.

Yeah, I've never had long term success with native lycopodiums as interesting as they are. I will just photograph them in the native habitat (same as wild orchids).

Thanks for all the info. I won't be collecting any from the wild. I dug one up in Wisconsin as a kid, thinking it was a pine seedlings. The neighbor notified me that it wasn't. Duh, I do have an excellent flora of my region written by Swink and Wilhelm. I'm sure they have that information. There is much to explore here.

This is the most common species in my state. I think I may have seen it. I won't be attempting to cultivate any of them, too difficult, and I enjoy them more in nature, anyway.

https://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/grasses/plants/fan_clubmoss.htm

Jay that's a pretty one...mine are all narrow pine tree forms, often semi-aquatic it seems.

It looks like something I may have seen before, but not sure. I will notice it now if I see it tho. I don't have any area even close to being suitable for lycopodiums. Native orchids can't be that difficult right? I don't have any natural seeps where some of these moisture loving things thrive, but I do the best I can.😬🥴🌱

Does the Cumberland rosemary have the same piny taste as real rosemary, or is it more minty tasting?

I haven't harvested any Jay, I want to propagate the hell out of it first.

Oh yeah? Maybe you can set aside one cutting for me, and we can trade. I have plants you want.🤔🤣

Err, you do? I ordered a bunch of seed again this year...my wants are becoming much less ;)

You're growing your own redwing milkweeds, or you no longer desire them? Do you have a semi shady spot?

Milkweeds don't seem to do good here..just too wet for any apparently. I'm waiting to see what syriaca does in it's third year...it did survive it's 2nd year at least. Actually my mud is sprouting new seeps as we speak (in never before seen locations).

If you have seeps you can plant native orchids and many other beautiful things. Do you have swamp milkweed? Maybe, perennis, the aquatic milkweed might work for you?

Swamp milkweed slowly petered out and was visciously attacked by aphids and milkweed bugs. Perennis didn't make it through the wet winter/spring.

Hot and wet in summer and wet all winter, do in most things here. That's why my permanent pot jungle is growing (but trying to keep it fairly minimal because of issues.

Have you considered moving?🤣 It can be in the same area, just maybe on a bluff or plateau. 😂My milkweeds had aphids, and then the aphids dissapeared, but the aphids do seem to really attack incarnata with a vengeance. The milkweed bugs nibble the leaf tips, but don't come anywhere close to decimating my plants. Speciosa is native to Arkansas, but everybody wants to grow it. I'm technically at it's easternmost range. The records seem to indicate it was introduced. It also is supposed to hybridize easily with syriaca. I have a couple little minty species that are similar to the Conradina verticillata. They are Cunila oreganoides, and Hedeoma pulegoides. no noidies.

I have a couple of raised areas where I can try less tolerant things...but I'm enjoying my obligate wetland plants (lol). Lobelia, mimulus, rhexia, ferns, mosses, rudbeckia triloba, columbine (carefully sited), camassia, crinum, magnolia virginiana, passionflower, heuchera (carefully sited) all do wonderfully. It's an opportunity to grow different plants than I ever have before. Of course, I miss old friends (esp asclepias tuberosa and echinacea purpurea) though.

Finally after gardening all my life, I finally have some Echinacea purpurea that self seed. The wild form. All the cultivars must have been sterile. I'm always trying to add more Asclepias tuberosa.

If you ever feel like you need more, facebook has a carnivorous plant group with 30.000 people and a fern/fern allies group with 3.000 members. The plant ID group has 300.000. I was just looking at the fern group, very nice. All my milkweed friends left here and went over there, so I had to join them.

I do apologize for hijacking the thread, but I'm going to do it one more time. Jay, it's a feature for the selections to be sterile, it promotes rebloom. Yes, turn to the original for reseeding, but...at least when I was living in Oklahoma...I got a wildly reseeding population for a year or two, then the goldfinches started eating seeds before they were even mature, and reseeding stopped. I guess I grew them for the finchs, right?

Perhaps you have more finches. They eat the seeds of my plants, but the volunteers are still weedy. I'm not complaining because I did wish for it to happen. I still get blooms all season, because the plants are all in different stages of growth.

Back on the Lycopodium topic, I just wanted to share some photos of what is naturally occurring in the NC Piedmont as well as in the mountains. I am not certain as to the species, but the first two photos are on my property near Greensboro, and the last photo is from a dig in the mountains...was trying to get Gaultheria, but apparently the spores were in the soil, and about five years later I have a nice group of about 30 plants. I think they are all slow growing. Gaultheria survived, but the critters like to eat it. Also note that some of the club mosses have been split from Lycopodium into other genus. Plus, my patch covering almost an acre started out 30+ years ago from a small group that I discovered along with some Partridge Berry Mitchella repens. Sadly, when I am gone, I imagine there will be houses on this site.

Ncrescue, those are beautiful pictures, thanks for sharing. You are blessed to be in such a rich area.

Terrestrial man. I don't know of you are aware or not, but there are a some people and groups over at facebook that specialize in Lycopods. A lot of interesting material.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/lycopod/permalink/1811600375665053/

I've been following this research with a lot of interest. A while back, I tried growing Lycopodiums myself (not for a paper or anything, just out of curiosity), and let’s just say it didn’t go so well. 😅 But I learned a lot from the experience — especially about the role of humidity and light cycles.

Something that really helped me get a clearer vision of how these plants behave in different environments was reading some less conventional botanical resources. It gave me a new way to approach things, even on a small scale.

I’m really looking forward to the final publication. It’s fascinating how much there is still to learn from these ancient plants.