''Huperzia appalachiana'' is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

clubmoss Lycopodiopsida is a class of vascular plants also known as lycopsids, lycopods, or lycophytes. Members of the class are also called clubmosses, firmosses, spikemosses and quillworts. They have dichotomously branching stems bearing simple leaves ...

Description

The original description is:

Stems tufted to shortly decumbent (), erect portions of stem tall. Stems appear to live for definite periods (about 10 years of spore production), then senesce and the entire plant dies. New stems produced by gemmae, which fall at base of older plant. Growth during juvenile period erect. Stems showing no annual constrictions. Mature portion of stem with markedly small leaves. Leaves ascending to spreading in juvenile portion, ascending to appressed in mature portion. Plants uniformly green to yellow-green. Adaxial leaf surfaces with large number of stomates (35-60 per half leaf). Leaf margin entire with occasional small papillae formed by marginal

Range

Restricted to acidic rock at high elevations along the lower Appalachians, and to northern latitudes elsewhere, generally near the Canadian border in Vermont, Maine, and Michigan, and up into the

Canadian Shield The Canadian Shield ( ), also called the Laurentian Shield or the Laurentian Plateau, is a geologic shield, a large area of exposed Precambrian igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks. It forms the North American Craton (or Laurentia), th ...

Habitat

Acidic rock, occasionally exposed cliff faces.

Etymology

''Appalachiana'' is the Latin adjectival form of

Appalachia Appalachia ( ) is a geographic region located in the Appalachian Mountains#Regions, central and southern sections of the Appalachian Mountains in the east of North America. In the north, its boundaries stretch from the western Catskill Mountai ...

References

appalachiana Flora of Eastern Canada Flora of the Northeastern United States Flora of the Southeastern United States Flora of Manitoba Plants described in 1992 {{Lycophyte-stub