Huperzia

Taxobox
name = Firmosses


image_width = 275px
image_caption = "Huperzia lucidula" in Ohio
regnum = Plantae
divisio = Lycopodiophyta
classis = Lycopodiopsida
ordo = Lycopodiales
familia = Huperziaceae
genus = "Huperzia"
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision = About 400 species; see text

"Huperzia" is a genus of Lycophyte plants, sometimes known as the Firmosses or Fir clubmosses. These species have traditionally been included in the related genus "Lycopodium", but the trend in recent treatments has been to place them in a separate genus. The common name "firmoss", used for some of the north temperate species, refers to their superficial resemblance to branches of fir ("Abies"), a conifer. In Australia, the epiphytic species are commonly known as Tassel ferns.

The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution, with about 400 species. Some botanists however split "Huperzia" into two genera, "Huperzia" in the narrow sense including 10-15 species of terrestrial temperate to Arctic species, and the rest in "Phlegmariurus", a primarily tropical to subtropical genus of mainly epiphytic species. "Huperzia" and its relatives are included in the family Huperziaceae in some classifications, or alternatively in a more broadly defined Lycopodiaceae in others.

The plants of this genus generally have radial ranks of entire, linear to lanceolate evergreen leaves and dichotomously-branched (forking) vegetative stems. The spores are borne in kidney-shaped sporangia borne individually on the stem at the bases of unmodified or reduced leaves.

Unlike clubmosses, firmosses grow in clusters rather than running. The roots are produced in the tips of the shoots, growing downward in cortex to emerge at soil level. Horizontal stems are absent.

;Selected species

External links

* [http://homepages.caverock.net.nz/~bj/fern/huperzia.htm Species information for "Huperzia"]
* [http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/courses/img/bot/401/Lycophyta_(Microphyllophyta)/Lycopodiaceae/Huperzia Picture gallery]
* [http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=115890 Flora of North America: "Huperzia"]
* [http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=125040 Flora of North America: "Phlegmariurus"]