Fern · Lycopodiaceae
Stiff clubmoss
Lycopodium annotinum
Stiff clubmoss is recorded as native to 20 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 267 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Stiff clubmoss at a glance
- Native in
- 267 counties, across 20 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3a PLANTS minimum temperature −43°F
- Mature height
- 1 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Tolerates shade High water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 3a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −43°F; zone 3a winters bottom out at −40°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Stiff clubmoss is recorded as native to 20 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 267 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 267 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alaska 23 counties
- Colorado 10 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Idaho 9 counties
- Maine 15 counties
- Massachusetts 9 counties
- Minnesota 20 counties
- New Hampshire 10 counties
- New Jersey 4 counties
- New Mexico 1 county
- New York 42 counties
- Oregon 14 counties
- Pennsylvania 33 counties
- Tennessee 1 county
- Vermont 13 counties
- Virginia 10 counties
- Washington 15 counties
- West Virginia 9 counties
- Wisconsin 25 counties
- Wyoming 4 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Forb/herb, Subshrub
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 1 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Stoloniferous
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Long
- Active growth period
- Spring, Summer, Fall
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Tolerant (tolerates shade)
- Moisture use
- High water use
- Drought tolerance
- None
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- High
- Precipitation range
- 32 to 60 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse, medium and fine
- pH range
- 4 to 5.3
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Low
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Low
- Minimum root depth
- 10 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −43°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 100
- Fire tolerance
- High
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Green
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Late Summer
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- No Known Source
- Family
- Lycopodiaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- LYAN2
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Lycopodium annotinum (PLANTS symbol LYAN2).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources