Ground pines

Order Lycopodiales

The Lycopodiales are an ancestral group of living and extinct clubmosses which are all herbaceous. Unlike more derived lycophytes, they are homosporous, producing only one kind of spore, and lack specialized spore-cones. Living species are mainly tropical, but several occur in temperate, arctic and subalpine regions. All are trailing plants from a rhizome. In some species, variations and gradations between dichotomous and pseudomonopodial growth patterns occur.

Above: Huperzia lucidula, the shining clubmoss, found in eastern North America

Sporophyte (=spore-producing phase)

Vegetative features

Stems

Morphology: Dichotomous branching is isotomous or anistomous in nature
Anatomy: Vascular tissue is arranged as a protostele, frequently a plectostele

Leaves

Possess leaves, called microphylls or lycophylls, which are small in nature
Leaves are arranged helically around the stem, giving them a moss-like appearance

Reproductive features

Sporangia

Most have sporangia that are aggregated into cones, which have a club-like appearance
Some, like Huperzia, have sporangia that are diffuse along stem
All members of Lycopodiales are homosporous
Sporangia are located on the adaxial surface of special leaves, which are called sporophylls