卡罗利小石松 ka luo li xiao shi song

Lycopodium carolinianum Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 2: 1101. 1753; Lepidotis caroliniana (Linnaeus) P. Beauvois; L. repens P. Beauvois; Lycopodium repens (P. Beauvois) Swartz; L. subinundatum Tagawa; Pseudolycopodiella caroliniana (Linnaeus) Holub.

Plants of marshes or wetlands. Aerial shoots creeping, 10-30 cm, forked, 2-5 mm in diam., stem together with leaves 7-12 mm wide. Leaves spirally arranged, sparser on creeping side of stem, dense, ascending, yellowish green, not lustrous, lanceolate, slightly bent at base, 5-10 × 1-2 mm, papery, both surfaces crimped, midrib indistinct, base not narrowed, decurrent, sessile, margin entire, apex acuminate. Peduncles solitary, erect, 8-15 cm tall, 10-15 mm wide; bracts sparse, subulate to lanceolate, obviously smaller than leaves of creeping stems, 3-5 × ca. 1 mm, papery, margin entire, apex acuminate, with long acute tip; strobilus yellow, terete, 2.5-5 cm, 3-4 mm in diam. (excluding sporophylls); sporophylls monomorphic, yellow, broadly ovate, imbricate, 4-5 mm, 2-2.5 mm wide at base, leathery, margin membranous, with irregular blunt teeth, apex acute, caudate. Sporangia enclosed, reniform, ca. 1.2 mm in diam.

Marshes, wetlands on hillsides; 1000-1500 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Hunan [India, Japan, Sri Lanka; Africa, America].

Yizhang, Hunan, is the northernmost distribution limit of this species in China.