Your help is appreciated. We depend on donations to help keep this site free and up to date for you. Can you please help us?

Donate

Native Plant Trust: Go Botany Discover thousands of New England plants

Huperziaceae

This family contains exactly one genus, Huperzia.

See list of 3 species in this genus
  • 1a. Trophophylls dimorphic, those in the apical portion of the shoot noticeably shorter and more ascending than those near the base [Fig. 1]; gemmiphores borne throughout the apical portion of plant; lateral leaves of gemmae 0.5–1.1 (–1.2) mm wide, narrow-acute to acute at the apex; shoots determinate, the entire stem turning yellow on senescence
  • 1b. Trophophylls nearly monomorphic, those near the apex neither conspicuously smaller nor more ascending than those near the base; gemmiphores borne in a single whorl at the apex of a season’s growth; lateral leaves of gemmae 1.3–2.5 mm wide, obtuse to rounded at apex; shoots indeterminate, the base eventually turning yellow and rotting away
    • 2a. Trophophylls obovate, definitely widest beyond the middle, with 1–8 evident 
teeth [Fig. 2], lacking stomates on the adaxial surface; shoots with evident winter 
bud constrictions
    • 2b. Trophophylls lanceolate to narrow-triangular, widest below the middle, entire or rarely with obscure, papilla-like teeth, with abundant stomates on the adaxial surface (i.e., 30–90 per ½ leaf surface); shoots with obscure winter bud constrictions

Show All Couplets

 Show photos of:   Each photo represents one species in this genus.