Lycopodiella alopecuroides
Lycopodiella alopecuroides (L.) Cranfill
(from Alopecurus, foxtail grass, and Greek: -eides, -oides, like or having the form of, apparently in reference to the resemblance of the strobili to the seed heads of that grass, which superficially resemble a fox’s tail)
Local names: foxtail bog club-moss, foxtail club-moss
Horizontal stems longcreeping, arching, rooting at intervals, 2–4 mm in diam. (excluding leaves); leaves monomorphic, linear to linear-lanceolate, ca. 5–7 mm long, ca. 0.5–0.7 mm wide, with conspicuous marginal teeth, spreading to ascending; upright stems unbranched, (6–)10–30(–45) cm tall, densely covered with leaves; strobili 2–6(–11) cm long, 11–20 mm wide; sporophylls wide-spreading; 2n = 156 (Wagner & Beitel 1993). Wet places in savannahs, boggy areas in low open pinelands and seeps, in acidic soils; Hardin (Singhurst 2240, BAYLU), Jasper (Singhurst 3318, Singhurst, Bridges, & M. Pagoulat 14620, BAYLU, McRoberts & McRoberts 2903, TAES), Austin, Lamar, Newton, and Orange (Turner et al. 2003) cos., mainly Pineywoods; also Jefferson Co. in n Gulf Prairies and Marshes (Turner et al. 2003); in addition, the range map in Flora of North America (Wagner & Beitel 1993) has a locality mapped from c TX but we have been unable to confirm this location; e U.S. from NY s to FL w to AR and TX; also s Mexico and Cuba. Sporulating Jul–Nov. [Lycopodium alopecuroides L.] Lycopodiella alopecuroides has an interesting biogeography. It is one of a few species and numerous deciduous forest genera that occur broadly across the eastern United States as far west as TX and then reappear disjunctly in the mountains of Mexico and in some cases even in Guatemala; although its Mexican and Cuban occurrences may be the result of long distance dispersal, see page 37 for a different possible explanation of its occurrence in the highlands of s Mexico. This species can hybridize with L. appressa; two sheets at BRIT labeled as L. ×copelandii (Eiger) Cranfill. [L. alopecuroides × L. appressa] (Orzell & Bridges 5679, Jasper Co. and Bridges & Orzell 8584, Newton Co.), do seem somewhat intermediate between the two purported parents; however, they could be just unusual specimens of A. alopecuroides. TX populations represent the extreme sw occurrence of this species in the U.S. It is rare and of very limited distribution in the state. We thus consider it to be of conservation concern in TX. (TOES 1993: IV)