Lycopodium (from Ancient Greek lykos, wolf and podion, diminutive of pous, foot)[, .] is a genus of , also known as ground pines or creeping cedars,[ The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, 2008] in the family Lycopodiaceae. Two very different circumscriptions of the genus are in use. In the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016 (PPG I), Lycopodium is one of nine genera in the subfamily Lycopodioideae, and has from nine to 15 species.[ In other classifications, the genus is equivalent to the whole of the subfamily, since it includes all of the other genera. More than 40 species are accepted.][
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Description
They are , vascular, terrestrial or epiphyte , with widely branched, erect, prostrate, or creeping stems, with small, simple, needle-like or scale-like leaf that cover the stem and branches thickly.[ Each sporangium contains numerous small spores.]
Lycopods reproduce asexually by spores. The plants have an underground sexual phase that produces , and this alternates in the lifecycle with the spore-producing plant. The prothallium developed from the spore is a subterranean mass of tissue of considerable size, and bears both the male and female organs (antheridium and archegonia).[ They are more commonly distributed vegetatively, though, through above- or below-ground rhizomes.
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Taxonomy
The genus Lycopodium was first published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.[ In the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016 (PPG I), the broadly defined genus is equivalent to the subfamily Lycopodioideae, and Lycopodium is one of 16 genera in the family Lycopodiaceae, with between 9 and 15 species.][
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| + Varying circumscriptions of Lycopodium |
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| Lycopodium s.s. + 8 other genera making up subfamily Lycopodioideae |
| 7 genera (including Phylloglossum) in two subfamilies |
Species
Using the narrow circumscription of Lycopodium, in which it is one of nine genera in the subfamily Lycopodioideae, the Checklist of Ferns and Lycophytes of the World recognized the following species :[
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Lycopodium clavatum L. – stag's-horn clubmoss; subcosmopolitan
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Lycopodium diaphanum (P.Beauv.) Sw. – Tristan da Cunha
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Lycopodium japonicum Thunb. – eastern Asia (Japan west and south to India and Sri Lanka)
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Lycopodium lagopus (Laest. ex C.Hartm.) Zinserl. ex Kuzen. – circumpolar arctic and subarctic
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Lycopodium papuanum Nessel – New Guinea
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Lycopodium venustulum Gaudich. – Hawaii, Western Samoa, the Society Islands
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Lycopodium vestitum Desv. ex Poir. – northwest South America (Andes)
Uses
The spores of Lycopodium species are harvested and are sold as lycopodium powder.
Lycopodium sp. herb has been used in the traditional Austrian medicine internally as tea or externally as compresses for treatment of disorders of the locomotor system, skin, liver and bile, kidneys and urinary tract, infections, rheumatism, and gout,[U.S. National Research Council, Subcommittee on Zinc Cadmium Sulfide. Toxicologic Assessment of the Army's Zinc Cadmium Sulfide Dispersion, National Academies Press, 1997, pp. 44–77, .] Lycopodium powder was also used to determine the molecular size of oleic acid.
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