Lycopodium is a genus of clubmosses, also known as ground pines, in the family Lycopodiaceae, a family of fern-allies (see Pteridophyta). They are flowerless, vascular, terrestrial or epiphytic plants, with widely-branched, erect, prostrate or creeping stems, with small, simple, needle-like or scale-like leaves that cover the stem and branches thickly. The fertile leaves are arranged in cone-like strobilli. Specialized leaves (sporophylls) bear reniform spore-cases (sporangia) in the axils, which contain spores of one kind only. These club-shaped capsules give the genus its name.

Lycopods reproduce sexually by spores. The plant has an underground sexual phase that produces gametes, and this alternates in the life cycle with the spore-producing plant. The prothallium developed from the spore is a subterranean mass of tissue of considerable size and bears both the male and female organs (antheridium and archegonia). However, it is more common that they are distributed vegetatively through above or below ground rhizomes.

There are approximately 200 species, with 37 species widely distributed in temperate and tropical climates, though they are confined to mountains in the tropics.Species

• Lycopodium aberdaricum (central and southern Africa)
• Lycopodium alboffii (southernmost South America and the Falkland Islands)
• Lycopodium alticola (southwest China)
• Lycopodium annotinum (Interrupted Clubmoss; circumpolar north temperate)
• Lycopodium assurgens (Brazil (Minas Gerais, Santa Catarina))
• Lycopodium casuarinoides (southeast Asia (Japan to Bhutan and Borneo))
• Lycopodium centrochinense (east Asia (central China to India and the Philippines)
• Lypocodium cernuum creeping club moss (lowland mixed forest) — found along bush margins or disturbed ground; height approximately 400 mm
• Lycopodium clavatum (Stag's-horn Clubmoss; subcosmopolitan, see separate page for details)
• Lycopodium confertum (southern South America and the Falkland Islands)
• Lycopodium dendroideum (northern North America)
• Lycopodium deuterodensum, tree club moss (eastern Australia, New Caledonia, New Zealand) — has appressed leaves; height approximately 600 mm
• Lycopodium diaphanum (Tristan da Cunha)
• Lycopodium dubium (cold temperate and subarctic Europe and Asia; treated as a synonym of L. annotinum by some authors)
• Lycopodium fastigiatum (southeastern Australia, New Zealand)
• Lycopodium gayanum (south-central Chile and adjacent westernmost Argentina)
• Lycopodium hickeyi (northeastern North America)
• Lycopodium hygrophilum (New Guinea)
• Lycopodium interjectum (southwest China (Sichuan))
• Lycopodium japonicum (eastern Asia (Japan west and south to India and Sri Lanka))
• Lycopodium juniperoideum (northeast Asia (central Siberia southeast to Taiwan))
• Lycopodium jussiaei (northern South America, Caribbean)
• Lycopodium lagopus (circumpolar arctic and subarctic)
• Lypocodium lucidulum, shining club moss (North America) — occurs in wet woods and among rocks; has no distinct strobili; bears its spore capsules at the bases of leaves scattered along the branches
• Lycopodium magellanicum (South and Central America (Andes), southern Atlantic Ocean and southern Indian Ocean islands)
• Lycopodium minchegense (southeast China (Fujian))
• Lycopodium obscurum (northeast North America, northeast Asia)
• Lycopodium paniculatum (southern South America (Andes))
• Lycopodium papuanum (New Guinea)
• Lycopodium pullei (New Guinea)
• Lycopodium scariosum (southeastern Australia, New Zealand, Borneo (Mount Kinabalu))
• Lycopodium selago (uplands of western Europe)
• Lycopodium simulans (southwest China (Yunnan))
• Lycopodium spectabile (Java)
• Lycopodium subarcticum (northeast Siberia)
• Lycopodium taliense (southwest China (Yunnan))
• Lycopodium venustulum (Hawaii, Western Samoa, Society Islands)
• Lycopodium vestitum (northwest South America (Andes))
• Lycopodium volubile, climbing club moss (southwest Pacific Ocean islands (New Zealand north to Java), Australia (Queensland)) — found along bush margins and disturbed ground; has a creeping habit and can climb up vegetation
• Lycopodium zonatum (southeast Tibet)

Uses

The term Lycopodium is also used to describe the yellowish, powdery spores of certain club mosses, especially Lycopodium clavatum, used in the past in fireworks, fingerprint powders, as a covering for pills and explosives. The term "Lycopodium mask" is sometimes used to describe a type of flamethrower-mask worn by some music bands or artists on stage, such as Rammstein, most notably on the song Feuer frei!, featured in the movie xXx. Belisha (band) have got themselves banned when using the substance in flamethrowers. In Physics experiments, the powder is also used to make sound-waves in air visible for observation and measurement.

Lycopodium powder is also used to make a pattern of electrostatic charging visible. For example, Chester Carlson used lycopodium powder in his early experiments to demonstrate xerography.

It is also used as an ice cream stabilizer

External links

• Species list (takes a broad view of the genus, including the species here separated in the genus Diphasiastrum)
• Burning Lycopodium Powder: Simulating a Grain Elevator Explosion by Kevin A. Boudreaux