Interrupted clubmoss

About

The Interrupted clubmoss is neither a moss nor a flowering plant, but a representative of a very ancient group of spore plants. Its creeping stems stretch along the ground for a meter or more and root themselves, from which branched shoots 10–30 cm tall rise. The leaves are narrow, stiff, sharp, and protrude sideways, making the shoot resemble a twig of juniper. The shoots have noticeable constrictions — the boundaries of annual growth, hence the name.

At the tops of the shoots sit solitary spikes 1.5–4 cm long, without a stalk. Spores mature in late summer. This feature easily distinguishes the species from Lycopodium clavatum: in that species, the spikes are gathered in pairs or threes on long thin stalks, and each leaf ends with a long white hair.

In the Carpathians, the Interrupted clubmoss grows in moist spruce and mixed forests on acidic soils, among mosses and bilberries, up to the krivolissia. In the Ukrainian Carpathians, this is the most frequently observed species by naturalists, which has not yet been included in our catalog.

The clubmoss grows extremely slowly. From the spore, an underground sprout first develops, which lives in symbiosis with a fungus for many years, and it takes one and a half to two decades for an adult plant to appear. Therefore, a picked "garland" takes a very long time to recover.

The species is listed in the Red Data Book of Ukraine (status "data deficient"): collecting, picking for wreaths and decorations, and selling it is prohibited. We only show its distribution at the level of massifs on the website.

Where in the Carpathians

Orange — where naturalists recorded the species (GBIF, CC0/CC BY). It occurs only locally, so we draw no approximate range; a blank area does not mean it is absent. For rare and vulnerable species the map is deliberately coarse (hexagons of ~250 km² or more) so that it never points to dens, nests or growing sites.

Countries

Ukraine · Slovakia · Poland · Romania · Czechia

Mountain ranges

Gorgany, Skole Beskids, Pokuttia-Bukovina Carpathians, Chornohora, Maramureș Mountains, Hryniava Mountains, Svydovets. In other countries: 🇸🇰 High Tatras, 🇸🇰 Western Tatras, 🇸🇰 Lesser Fatra, 🇸🇰 Belianske Tatras, 🇨🇿 Moravian-Silesian Beskids, 🇸🇰 Greater Fatra, 🇵🇱 Żywiec Beskids

Altitude belts

Beech forests (600–1200 m) · Conifer forests (1200–1600 m)

When to see it

From naturalists’ observations in the Carpathians (iNaturalist, research grade): the darker the cell, the more often the species is seen that month.

Safety

The plant contains alkaloids — do not consume it in any form. Collecting is prohibited.

Look-alikes — how to tell them apart

In folk tradition

The spores of clubmosses were once used in pharmacy as a dusting powder. Currently, the species is protected, and harvesting it is not allowed.

Protection and rules

Listed in the Red Data Book of Ukraine (data deficient, like Lycopodium annotinum). Collecting and selling is prohibited.

Admire, don’t pick: plants listed in the Red Data Book of Ukraine — and any plants in nature reserves and strictly protected zones of national parks — must not be collected.

Red Data Book of Ukraine

FAQ