Lycopodium
(Lycopodium obscurum)

Lycopodium, also called ground pine or club moss, is a small evergreen plant that grows in northern hardwood forests. It is a native to the Great Lakes area and is mostly found in cool, moist places. Although it likes soil with a lot of nutrients, it can grow in nutrient-poor soil and in a variety of light conditions. Lycopodium is usually found in forests that are between 10 and 30 years old because this is when they can receive the best lighting and soil moisture.

Even though it is sometimes called a moss, lycopodium is actually related to the fern species. Its name comes from the Greek words "luko", meaning wolf, and "podos", meaning foot. Some early scientists thought that its branches looked like a wolf's paw Like ferns, lycopodium can reproduce through spores and through "runners" called rhizomes. Their rhizomes can grow both above and below ground, allowing them to find the easiest path to a location for a new plant. By moving across the surface, they can bypass hard-packed or water-logged soil that might occur because of human disturbance such as logging roads or trails.

Ancestors of lycopodium have been around for over 300,000 million years and can be found in the plant material that makes up coal beds. In the last century, it was used for medical teas to treat headaches and sore eyes. Its spores were also an ingredient in flash powders for the first cameras. Today, it is used by people to create holiday wreaths and native landscapes. If this harvesting is done in moderation, and the plants are not harvested every year from the same place, then lycopodium is likely to live on in our forests.

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