clubmoss

Seeing this bit of greenery isn't truly a sign of spring, since clubmosses stay green through the winter, but the fact that it wasn't snow-covered was encouraging.

This moss in the genus lycopodium looks like a six-inch evergreen tree, leading to a profusion of names like "pine moss", "ground pine", and "running-cedar". I'm pretty confident this is L. digitatum, "fan clubmoss" a.k.a. "crowfoot clubmoss". Its flattened leaves are the easiest way to differentiate it from the rarer L. obscurum, but for photographic purposes the ragged texture of the mature sporangia was more interesting.

Clubmosses are vascular plants, i.e., not really mosses. They are considered "fern allies" alongside a few oddball groups such as equisetae.

Early April 2008