What are these? Ferns or Fungi????

When walking in the woods friends always ask about these. I think they are in the moss family, but not sure. They are evergreen, pretty hardy and small.

Here is another type of the same stuff.
Can anyone help?

That looks like a Clubmoss (Lycopodium). We have L. dendroideum & selago in my area.

Two different clubmosses. First is probably Lycopodium annotinum, the second probably Diphasiastrum digitatum.

Info: http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=119159 , http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=110327

Resin

Thanks, that is an easy name to remember. Now I can sound smart to all my friends. Ha...they know better.
It is an intresting plant. It seems to be all intertwined...can it be moved? Some would look nice in the shady area by the new arbor.

Not sure you will succeed, they need ( I mean the first one; Lycopodium annotinum) acidic poor soil that never dries out!

First: Huperzia; looks like Huperzia lucidula, but I'm not familiar with all of the other Huperzia in Michigan.

Second: a true Lycopodium, not Diphasiastrum. This is either Lycopodium obscurum, Lycopodium hickeyi, or Lycopodium dendroideum. I would guess L. obscurum, but members of this group are difficult to distinguish.

Both Lycopodium and Huperzia are notoriously difficult to transplant. I've tried Huperzia in the past, with little luck. Better to enjoy them where they are.

Patrick

I've tried Lycopodium without success. Couldn't the cones be collected and mixed with buttermilk in a blender as if it was moss? Just a thought.

This message was edited Jun 13, 2007 1:46 PM

I agree with Paalexan; 'enjoy them where they are'! In my country they are a protected specie.

I agree. I think their roots are very tangled anyway. These are not spread all over the woods as some other mosses and ferns are. The spot is not too far from the swamp, but on high ground, very shady. I guess the soil is more wet than I first thought.
DH drove over a spot of them in the winter to remove a tree that had fallen. There was quite a bit of snow and the quad is not that heavy, but that whole section died. It is now coming back, after 2 years, so I feel they are quite sensitive. I only try to move stuff that I have a lot of and a little wouldn't be missed if unsuccesful.
You will laugh. When we went for a walk and came upon these last night I exclaimed.....I know what these are now, they are....um...um....never mind...

Wow C-Chick those are really something. I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like them.

Really? I would think they have some down there. They are quite small....about 4-6" high and quite stiff, not soft like moss. I think they look like miniture trees. There is an old moss covered stump near them that has these by it. The stump has a hole in it and looks like a hobbit house, complete with grass and trees. I tell visiting kids that an elf lives in there.

Clubmosses are generally pretty rare - cpartschick is very lucky to have them. They are very sensitive to any form of disturbance - agriculture eradicates them completely, as does grazing and fire. They are very good 'indicator plants' for habitats unaffected by human activities. The vast majority of places, if they did once occur, they've gone now.

Resin

How intresting, Resin. I had no idea!
Thanks for the information. I guess I will treasure them even more and pass this info on to guests that sometime walk with me. This information will keep hubby from trampling them, I am sure. He loves that we have some rare plants here.

I really appreciate all the information everybody, and the comments.
I don't think I can figure out the exact type I have here, Paalexan, but thanks for trying.
They sure are intresting. I looked at them last night again and the first one, I only see in one area in the woods, a big spot about 100x30 feet is covered. The second one, grows spotty in many different places. I used to pull some up and put it in dried arrangements. NO MORE.

Did some research on club mosses in Michigan. I see most are endangered, threatened or watched. I even found a flower I have that is on the list. So intresting. I would have never known.
I found a couple more types of club moss and will get pictures later.

This one looks like club moss, but has a moss base.

This one weeps and has shoots, different from #2.

This one doesn't seem like a fern or a club moss. It is kind of reed like, but very fine.

Thanks. That clears that up. I tried looking up club mosses and the differences were so minimal it is hard to determine which is what. I did find out that they grow mostly in forests that have been undisturbed for 100 years.
Looked for that endangered wildflower yesterday. I did not document location or time of year I had found it, so I will have to search the brainframe. I have found many wildflowers no longer in places they were, some moved to others, some gone all together. Humans in the woods and deer diet changes. The deer are now distroying the spotted jewel weed. Haven't seen that bloom for 3 years. I love it for its medicinal qualities. (instant cure for poisen ivy and nettle)

Here is another new one that I found. It is more delicate that the first ones.

Your new one looks to be Diphasiastrum digitatum.

Thanks for the identification. This one seems to be rarer than the rest, as I have only seen it in two places and only in small amounts. The others are quite abundant in our woods.
Sure is an intresting plant.

That's interesting. Diphasiastrum digitatum is by far the most abundant club-moss in southern Indiana, where I used to live; it will sometimes form large, dense colonies under juniper (a.k.a. red-cedar).

Here in New Mexico, on the other hand, club-mosses are almost entirely absent. Haven't seen any since I moved.

Patrick

All our red cedar is in the swamp. All the club mosses are up in the sandy soil or on the high area around the swamp. I am surprized that this club moss is even here.
It is remarkable how some things will grow and then not show up again for years. Just needs the right conditions. We had beech drops. (a stick like, fungi like orchid that grows under beech trees). These were all over on a point near the house that is surounded by swamp and water. After that first year of finding hundreds of them, (even though we go out there only about 3 times a year) they have never grown again that I know of.
Also one year we had 10 yellow lady slippers after never seeing them before, then only one or two, this year there were no blooms (plants were there though).
I think these new surprizes make snooping through the woods fun and a new experience every time.

cpartschick:
What wonderful finds. I also am enjoying all of the woodland surprizes.

I have been keeping my eyes open for several monotropes which I used to see here as a kid. Here are a couple of sites which had some really neat info (some only recently discovered about them).

http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/toms_fungi/oct2002.html
http://plantbio.berkeley.edu/~bruns/tour/monotrope.html
http://jpkc.ynau.edu.cn/course/zwbl/shuo/The%20Fifth%20Kingdom%20on-line/chapter17.htm
http://www2.mcdaniel.edu/Biology/wildamerica/redwoodforest/E7parasiticpl.html

Some of these explain why moving plants out of natural surroundings doesn't work -- many are dependent upon other stuff growing in soil (mycorrhizal fungi and/or roots of surrounding plants).

-- Mary

Wow. Thanks for posting.
The first one I learned quite a bit about my indian pipes. Part of the blueberry family....I would have never guessed.
I feel like I have had my science lesson for the day!