''Palhinhaea cernua'',

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

''Lycopodiella cernua'' and ''Lycopodium cernuum'', is a plant in the family

Lycopodiaceae The Lycopodiaceae (class Lycopodiopsida, order Lycopodiales) are an old family of vascular plants, including all of the core clubmosses and firmosses, comprising 17 accepted genera and about 500 known species. This family originated about 380 mi ...

, commonly known as the staghorn clubmoss. The Hawaiian name for the plant is ''wāwaeʻiole'', or "rat's foot". It has a substantial number of scientific synonyms in several genera. The genus ''

Palhinhaea ''Palhinhaea'' is a genus of Lycopodiopsida, lycophytes in the family Lycopodiaceae. In the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016 (PPG I), it is placed in the subfamily Lycopodielloideae. Some sources do not recognize the genus, sink ...

'' is accepted in the

Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group The Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group (PPG) is an informal international group of systematic botanists who collaborate to establish on the classification of pteridophytes ( lycophytes and ferns) that reflects knowledge about plant relationships discove ...

classification of 2016 (PPG I), but not in other classifications which submerge the genus in ''

Lycopodiella ''Lycopodiella'' is a genus in the clubmoss family Lycopodiaceae. The genus members are commonly called bog clubmosses, describing their wetland habitat. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution, with centers of diversity in the tropical New Wor ...

''. It is the largest of the clubmosses, having

rhizomes In botany and dendrology, a rhizome ( ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow hori ...

up to in length, with leafy uprights up to in height.

Distribution

''Palhinhaea cernua'' is a widespread pan-tropical species, found mostly at higher elevations in subtropical mountain climates of

tropical Africa The Afrotropical realm is one of the Earth's eight biogeographic realms. It includes Sub-Saharan Africa, the southern Arabian Peninsula, the island of Madagascar, and the islands of the western Indian Ocean. It was formerly known as the Ethiopi ...

, Asia, the Pacific Islands and the

Neotropics The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In biogeog ...

. In Europe, it is found in the

Azores The Azores ( , , ; , ), officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores (), is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira). It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atl ...

(where it is possibly native) and formerly on

Madeira Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of ...

. It has been introduced in

continental Portugal Continental Portugal (, ) or mainland Portugal comprises the bulk of the Portuguese Republic, namely that part on the Iberian Peninsula and so in continental Europe, having approximately 95% of the total population and 96.6% of the country's l ...

(

Valongo Valongo () is a Portuguese municipality located in the District of Porto and 10 km from Porto, in the northern region of Portugal. The municipality area consists of and 94,672 inhabitants in 2021, and it is subdivided into four parishes: ...

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

and

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

. It favors bog environments. ''Palhinhaea cernua'' is sometimes cultivated.

Distribution

References

Further reading