General: Low, perennial, moss-like plants with creeping to tufted stems bearing scattered, mostly unbranched roots.
Leaves: Spirally arranged or 4-ranked, small, simple, lanceolate to linear or scalelike, each with a single vascular trace.
Spores: Spores contained in sporangia, which resemble small, tan, kidney-shaped pouches, either 1 sporangium per leaf axil or the sporangia in the axils of modified leaves (sporophylls), these aggregated into terminal cone-like structures. Huperzia species also reproduce by gemmae (small flattened vegetative propagules) in 1 or several pseudowhorls near branch tips or along length of branches.
Identification Tips: See also Selaginellaceae. Most Selaginellaceae species in North America have quadrangular spore cones with the sporophylls in 4 rows (in Lycopodiaceae the spore cones are terete with the sporophylls spirally arranged, or the sporangia are interspersed among normal leaves). Selaginella selaginoides, with spirally arranged sporophylls, differs from Lycopodiaceae by its softly spinulose-dentate leaf margins and dimorphic spores.
Comments: Lycophytes represent the oldest extant lineage of vascular plants, with members dating back at least 390 million years. Although often grouped with ferns, they represent an indepentent group no more closely related to ferns than are other extant vascular plants. Lycopodiaceae is sometimes split into two families, Huperziaceae (containing Huperzia s.l.) and Lycopodiaceae (remaining genera).
12 species
Distribution: Occurring in the Cascades Range and in northeastern Washington; Alaska to Washington, northern Idaho, and western Montana, east across the northern U.S. and Canada to the Atlantic Coast: south in the Appalachians to North Carolina.
Habitat: Woodlands and open brushy areas. In Washington, found mostly among rock or talus with thick moss or duff layers, often under brush or on edges of forest. At mid elevations in the mountains.
Origin: Native
Growth Duration: Perennial
Distribution: Occurring in the Olympic Mountains and Cascades Range in Washington; Alaska to northern Washington, east to northern Idaho, northwest Montana, and Quebec; circumboreal.
Habitat: Rocky slopes, dry heath meadows, and open conifer forests at high elevations. In Washington, often found associated with Phyllodoce, Cassiope, and Vaccinium in dry heath soils.
Origin: Native
Growth Duration: Perennial
Distribution: Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; Alaska to Washington, east across the northern U.S. and Canada to the Atlantic Coast.
Habitat: Moist to dry, usually coniferous forests, rocky slopes and sandy openings, low to mid-elevations.
Origin: Native
Spores: Sporing structures in summer and fall
Growth Duration: Perennial
Distribution: Occurring in the mountainous areas of Washington. Alaska to Oregon, east to Idaho and Montana, and across central Canada to northeastern U.S. and eastern Canada; also in eastern Asia from Japan north.
Habitat: Subalpine-alpine meadows and open rocky areas at mid-to high elevations in the mountains; occasionally in conifer forest or under brush.
Origin: Native
Growth Duration: Perennial
Distribution: Occurring in the Cascades and Olympic Mountains in Washington; Alaska to Oregon, east to Idaho, also in far eastern Canada; Eurasia.
Habitat: Subalpine and alpine meadows.
Origin: Native
Growth Duration: Perennial
Distribution: Occurring in the Olympic Mountains and Cascade Range in Washington; Alaska to Washington, east to Montana; also in Wyoming and Colorado, scattered across northern Canada and on Greenland.
Habitat: Subalpine and alpine meadows, heath, and rocky slopes. Usually at high elevations.
Origin: Native
Growth Duration: Perennial
Distribution: Occurring west of the Cascades crest in Washington; Alaska to northwest Oregon, east to Idaho and western Montana; also in eastern Asia.
Habitat: Moist, brushy talus slopes, edges of coniferous forests, or mossy rocks, from middle elevations to the subalpine.
Origin: Native
Growth Duration: Perennial
Distribution: Occurring west of the Cascades crest in Washington; coastal ranges from southeastern Alaska and southwestern Yukon to northern Oregon; also in southeastern British Columbia, northern Idaho, and northwest Montana. Not found outside North America.
Habitat: In shaded conifer forest, usually where moist such as along streams and in depressions; rooted on decaying logs, duff, or soil. Low to mid elevations.
Origin: Native
Growth Duration: Perennial
Distribution: Occurring west of the Cascades crest in Washington; Alaska south to California; in scattered locations in north central Canada; from Minnesota and Ontarioa east to the Atlantic Coast.
Habitat: Wet areas, pond and lakeshores from low to middle elevations in the mountains.
Origin: Native
Growth Duration: Perennial
Distribution: Occurring chiefly west of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California, east to Montana, also in central and eastern North America; circumboreal
Habitat: Moist coniferous woods and swamps.
Origin: Native
Spores: Produces spores April-October
Growth Duration: Perennial
Distribution: Occurring in the North Cascades in Washington; Alaska to northern Washington, western Montana, the Great Lakes region, and northeastern North America.
Habitat: Moist, open areas, montane to subalpine.
Origin: Native
Growth Duration: Perennial
Distribution: Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; Alaska to Oregon, east to the Rocky Mountains, northern Great Plains, Great Lakes region, and eastern North America.
Habitat: Moist forests, bog edges and rocky areas, lowlands to subalpine
Origin: Native
Spores: May-July
Growth Duration: Perennial
