categoryZMosses Mosses & Clubmosses List 
categoryZEvergreen Evergreen List 

INTERRUPTED CLUBMOSS

Lycopodium annotinum

(Formerly: Spinulum annotinum)
Clubmoss & Quillwort Family [Lycopodiaceae]

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category
category8Mosses
category
category8Evergreen
status
statusZnative
stem
stem8round
toxicity
toxicityZmedium

early June 2013, Bavaria. Photo: © Dawn Nelson
Upright stems reach 25cm high. Procumbent stems grow to 60cm long (up to 1m). Some shorter specimens growing from the top; some much longer re-curved ones growing from the side. This specimen at first growing downwards before side-branches U-turn upwards. Interrupted Clubmoss is supposed to have leaves covering its stems except for a several very short sections where there are none (the interruptions), but that 'feature' is not apparent here in these specimens nor in the description of this plant in Clive Stace's book. Apparently, another book has the reason for the absence of the spaces: only those shorter branches which grow at the end of the season have this very short gap in the occupancy of the leaves on the stem.


early June 2013, Bavaria. Photo: © Dawn Nelson
Starting at the very top: the RH stem is growing downwards, whilst lower down 3 branches turn upwards after initially growing downwards. This is a very long section, but one which has fallen off the clifftop and is now dangling free rather than being procumbent. In several places it has attempted to get back up by reversing the growing direction of its many branches.


early June 2013, Bavaria. Photo: © Dawn Nelson
The branch on the left may be half displaying one of its interruptions: the leaves about 1/3rd the way up appear to point erroneously upwards then outwards again (a short interruption? or is it a very short branch like the one on the lower right?).


early June 2013, Bavaria. Photo: © Dawn Nelson
The leaves mostly stick out away from the stem.


early June 2013, Bavaria. Photo: © Dawn Nelson
The leaves peel-off the main stem in whorls, having first travelled a fair distance along the stem before going outwards (best seen in the long, stretched upside-down stem on the left). The leaves are entire (no teeth) between 4 to 10mm long, linear-lanceolate and have an acute tip. The leaves are closer together on the branches than on the main stem (the reason probably being that the main stem grows more than the branches do).


early June 2013, Bavaria. Photo: © Dawn Nelson
The shorter sporangium-bearing stems are upright, 25cm long, with leaves which are thin and dry, ovate in outline with an acuminate tip. The cones at the top of cone-bearing stems are 15 to 30mm long (The cones of Stag's-horn Clubmoss can beat this at 20 to 50mm long).


early June 2013, Bavaria. Photo: © Dawn Nelson
The fawn coloured sporangia at the top of these specimens are now ripe. [Interloping unknown plant lower centre].


Not to be semantically confused with : Interrupted Brome (Bromus interruptus) [a plant with similar name in a totally different family]

Some similarities to : Stag's-horn Clubmoss (Lycopodium clavatum)

Interrupted Clubmoss is native to the UK and is now to be found in only mainland Central and Northern Scotland, as well as in Northern England and North Wales. It grows on thin soils on rocks in the moors and mountains often amongst Heather (Calluna vulgaris) and Bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus).


  Lycopodium annotinum  ⇐ Global Aspect ⇒ Lycopodiaceae  

Distribution
 family8Clubmoss & Quillwort family8Lycopodiaceae
 BSBI maps
genus8Lycopodium
Lycopodium
(Clubmosses)

INTERRUPTED CLUBMOSS

Lycopodium annotinum

(Formerly: Spinulum annotinum)
Clubmoss & Quillwort Family [Lycopodiaceae]