Huperzia selago

Huperzia selago

Secure  (NatureServe)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Lycophytes
Class: Lycopodiopsida
Order: Lycopodiales
Family: Lycopodiaceae
Genus: Huperzia
Species:
H. selago
Binomial name
Huperzia selago
Synonyms[1]
  • Lycopodium selago L.
  • Lycopodium selago var. patens (Beauv.) Desv.
  • Plananthus selago (L.) Beauv.
  • Urostachys selago (L.) Herter
Huperzia selago

Huperzia selago, the northern firmoss or fir clubmoss, is a vascular plant in the family Lycopodiaceae.[2] It is small-ish, sturdy, stiff and upright and densely scale-leaved. This plant is an evergreen, perennial pteridophyte. The spores are produced June to September.[3] It has a circumpolar distribution.[4]

Description

The dichotomous stalk of the plant is 5-20 cm with the branches being of same length with one another. The leaves are densely spiral, flat and needle-like, 4-8 mm long. The sporangium are at the base of the leaves of the shoot's top. There are often bulbils in the leaf axils.[3]

Distribution and habitat

It is a circumpolar plant, found in the northern parts of North America, Europe, and Asia.[5] It is found in sandy pits, ditches, along lakeshores, heathland and in conifer swamps.[5] In the northeastern United States, it is found in boreal habitat, but not alpine zones.[1]

In Europe, its range extends from Svalbard to the mountains of northern Spain and Italy, and from the British Isles east through central Asia to the Kamchatka peninsula, Japan, the Aleutian Islands, North America, Greenland and Iceland.[6]

Uses

"Upper Tanana Indians used the whole plant in a poultice applied to the head for headaches".[1]

In Finnish traditional medicine this plant has been used as a remedy against rickets.[3]

This toxic plant, containing lycopodium alkaloid has been used as an emetic and a remedy against maggots in Finnish traditional medicine.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Huperzia selago (Northern firmoss): Go Botany".
  2. ^ "NatureServe Explorer 2.0". explorer.natureserve.org. Retrieved 2024-04-15.
  3. ^ a b c Piirainen, Mikko; Piirainen, Pirkko; Vainio, Hannele (1999). Kotimaan luonnonkasvit [Native wild plants] (in Finnish). Porvoo: WSOY. p. 14. ISBN 951-0-23001-4
  4. ^ Vejvodová, Kateřina; Krejčí, Joel; Koutecký, Petr; Lučanová, Magdaléna; Hornych, Ondřej; Ekrt, Libor Ekrt (2024-02-05). "High mountains of Central Europe as a refuge of surprising cytotype diversity of Huperzia selago (Lycopodiaceae)". www.researchsquare.com. doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-3896707/v1. Retrieved 2024-04-15.
  5. ^ a b Wagner, Warren H.; Joseph M. Beitel (1993). "Huperzia selago". In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.). Flora of North America North of Mexico (FNA). Vol. 2. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press. Retrieved 11 January 2019 – via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
  6. ^ "Huperzia selago (L.) Bernh. ex Schrank & Mart". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  7. ^ "Lycopodiaceae. Liekokasvit. | Henriette's Herbal Homepage". www.henriettes-herb.com. Retrieved 2024-04-15.


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