Ground cedars
Diphasiastrum
Diphasiastrum is a genus of clubmosses in the plant family Lycopodiaceae. In the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016 (PPG I), it is placed in the subfamily Lycopodioideae. It is closely related to the genus Lycopodium, and some botanists treat it within a broad view of that genus as a section, Lycopodium sect. Complanata. Plants of the World Online (POWO), for example, considers Diphasiastrum to be a synonym of the genus Lycopodium. The genus was first proposed by Josef Holub in 1975, who characterized the species by their dorsiventral structure of branchlets, their chromosome number, and their special type of prothallium. Some species superficially resemble diminutive gymnosperms and have been given common names such as ground-pine or ground-cedar.
Features which Holub found to be distinct in most Diphasiastrum species inclulde distinct differences between dorsal and ventral surfaces of leaves, leaves arranged in 3 parallel planes (dorsal, lateral and ventral), leaves coming in 2 or 3 distinct forms, leaves arranged opposite and decussate on the stem, pairs of lateral leaves alternating with pairs consisting of one dorsal and one ventral leaf, complex prothallia, and typically 23 basal chromosomes.
24 branches of this genus, most-observed first
fan clubmoss
speciesDiphasiastrum digitatum
northern ground-cedar
speciesDiphasiastrum complanatum
alpine clubmoss
speciesDiphasiastrum alpinum
blue clubmoss
speciesDiphasiastrum tristachyum
Sitka clubmoss
speciesDiphasiastrum sitchense
Diphasiastrum thyoides
speciesDiphasiastrum thyoides
Zeiller's clubmoss
hybridDiphasiastrum × zeilleri
Diphasiastrum veitchii
speciesDiphasiastrum veitchii
Issler's clubmoss
hybridDiphasiastrum × issleri
savin-leaved clubmoss
hybridDiphasiastrum × sabinifolium
Øllgaard's Clubmoss
hybridDiphasiastrum × oellgaardii
Diphasiastrum multispicatum
speciesDiphasiastrum multispicatum
Madeira Clubmoss
speciesDiphasiastrum madeirense
Alpine × Sitka Clubmoss
hybridDiphasiastrum alpinum × sitchense
Haberer's clubmoss
hybridDiphasiastrum × habereri
Diphasiastrum × verecundum
hybridDiphasiastrum × verecundum
Diphasiastrum platyrhizoma
speciesDiphasiastrum platyrhizoma
Diphasiastrum fawcettii
speciesDiphasiastrum fawcettii
Diphasiastrum wightianum
speciesDiphasiastrum wightianum
Diphasiastrum henryanum
speciesDiphasiastrum henryanum
Montell's Clubmoss
speciesDiphasiastrum montellii
Diphasiastrum carolinum
speciesDiphasiastrum carolinum
Diphasiastrum angustiramosum
speciesDiphasiastrum angustiramosum
Diphasiastrum novoguineense
speciesDiphasiastrum novoguineense
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
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In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Diphasiastrum in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 82392.