Saturday 18 May Marsh clubmoss (Lycopodiella inundata) Marsh
clubmoss fact file - Find out more - Print factsheet Marsh
clubmoss description Clubmosses are simple plants, related to
ferns; their common name is an indication of their resemblance
to true mosses, the 'club' referring to the shape of the spore-
bearing cones that most produce. Marsh clubmoss is the only
British member of its particular genus. In appearance, it
resembles another clubmoss, Lycopodium clavatum or stag's-horn
clubmoss, not uncommon in the uplands. Like ferns, clubmosses
have two distinct forms; the 'gametophyte', which stays
underground and grows in partnership with a fungus, and the form
in which most people are likely to see, the 'sporophyte'. This
consists of long trailing and rooting stems, which are covered
with a coat of tiny leaf-like scales called microphylls with
tiny, pale brown spore cases at the tips.Top Marsh clubmoss
biology The ancestry of clubmosses can be traced back to at
least the Carboniferous period, 300 million y