Common Name: foxtail bog clubmoss
Type: Herbaceous perennial
Family: Lycopodiaceae
Native Range: Southern North America, Central and South America
Zone: 5 to 9
Height: 0.75 to 1.00 feet
Spread: 1.00 to 1.25 feet
Bloom Time: Non-flowering
Bloom Description: Non-flowering
Sun: Full sun to part shade
Water: Wet
Maintenance: High
Suggested Use: Water Plant, Naturalize
Tolerate: Wet Soil
Culture
Requires consistently wet, sandy, acidic conditions in full sun to part shade. A thin layer of peat on top of moist sand should provide adequate growing conditions. Does not compete well against other, more vigorous plants. Water with rain water, distilled water, or reverse osmosis water if your water source is alkaline or has high levels of dissolved-solids (hard water). Hardy in Zones 5-9.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Lycopodiella alopecuroides, commonly called foxtail bog clubmoss, is a herbaceous, perennial, non-flowering plant native to the eastern seaboard and Gulf coastal plain of the United States where it can be found growing in bogs, sandy seeps, wet meadows, roadside ditches, powerline cuts and other open, moist areas. Mature plants are made up of both sterile and fertile stems and will reach around 12" tall and 16" wide. The sterile stems are strongly arched to prostrate, spreading horizontally across the ground and anchored via adventitious roots. The fertile stems are upright, occasionally branched, and topped with a 0.75-2" long strobilus (spore-producing structure, plural: strobili). The leaves along the stems are small, needle-like, coarsely toothed, and held close to the stem. The leaves that make up the strobili are longer and held perpendicular to the stem.
The genus name Lycopodiella is the diminutive of the genus name Lycopodium, another genus in the clubmoss family (Lycopodiaceae).
The specific epithet alopecuroides means "resembling Alopecusus", in reference to the similarities in appearance between the inflorescence of species in the foxtail grass genus Alopecusus and the fertile stems of this species.
The common name foxtail bog clubmoss refers to the similarities in appearance between the inflorescence of species of foxtail grass and the fertile stems of this species. The common name also references the preferred habitat of this species.
Problems
No known pest or disease problems. This plant has very specific cultural requirements that must be met for successful propagation.