club moss

Any of a group of mosslike plants that do not produce seeds but reproduce by spores. They are related to the ferns and horsetails. (Order Lycopodiales, family Pteridophyta.)

These plants have a wide distribution, but were far more numerous in Palaeozoic times, especially the Carboniferous period (363–290 million years ago), when members of the group were large trees. The species that exist now are all small in size.

Lycopodium is the most common genus, with species mostly growing on forest floors.