page_title: Diphasiastrum digitatum
section_title: Taxonomy
hierarchical_section_title: Diphasiastrum digitatum / Taxonomy
caption_attribution_description: English: https://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=LYDI3
context_page_description: Diphasiastrum digitatum is known as groundcedar, running cedar or crowsfoot, along with other members of its genus, but the common name fan clubmoss can be used to refer to it specifically. It is the most common species of Diphasiastrum in North America. It is a type of plant known as a clubmoss, which is within one of the three main divisions of living vascular plants. It was formerly included in the superspecies Diphasiastrum complanatum. For many years, this species was known as Lycopodium flabelliforme or Lycopodium digitatum.
  Its common name is due to its resemblance to cedar boughs lying on the ground. Its leaves are scale-like and appressed, like a mature cedar, and it is glossy and evergreen. It normally grows to a height of about four inches, with the spore-bearing strobili held higher. This plant was once widely harvested and sold as Christmas greenery, and populations were widely depleted for this reason. However, it has recovered throughout its range, and makes large clonal colonies, carpeting the forest floor.
  It prefers disturbed areas and coniferous forests, where it can form dense monocultures.
context_section_description: The species Diphasiastrum digitatum belongs to the kingdom Plantae. Its subkingdom is Trachaebionta, its division is Lycopodiophyta. It falls in the class Lycopoiosida, order Lycopodiales, family Lycopodiaceae and the genus is Diphasiastrum L.
caption: https://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=LYDI3
exif: {}