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Running-pine - Lycopodium clavatum
Native Species
Global Rank:
G5
State Rank:
S3S4
(see State Rank Reason below)
C-value:
7
Agency Status
USFWS:
USFS:
BLM:
State Rank Reason (see State Rank above)
DRAFT: Requesting feedback on the 2026 revised rank, factors, and State Rank Reason outlined below and in the Conservation Status Rank Report.
Lycopodium clavatum is rare to uncommon in Montana, occurring from the southern Bitterroot to Glacier National Park and the Kootenai National Forest. Population levels and trends are unknown or poorly documented. Potential threats include fires and logging and thinning activities though these are either limited in scope or not of immediate concern. The combination of its overall rarity in conjunction with the lack of data on population levels, trends and threats leads to uncertainty in its conservation status rank.
Surveys of the known occurrences are needed to document population size and extent, habitat quality and potential threats.
General Description
Shoots to 20 cm, solitary, often with short, arm-like branches. Leaves spreading or ascending, 3–6 mm long, narrow, entire-margined with hair-like tips. Strobili 1–4 cm long, 2 to 4 spreading or ascending on a branched peduncle sparsely set with yellowish bracts. Sporophylls broadly lanceolate, dentate with a hair-like tip. Similar in stature to the more common L. annotinum, but the long leaf tips are distinctive. One collection from Flathead Co. (C.L. Hitchcock 1868, MONTU) has a solitary strobile but otherwise appears to belong here (
Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).
Species Range
Montana Range
Range Descriptions
Native
Range Comments
In MT in Lincoln, Flathead, Glacier, and Ravalli counties; BC to NL south to CA, MT, MB IL, TN (Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).
Observations in Montana Natural Heritage Program Database
Number of Observations: 21
(Click on the following maps and charts to see full sized version)
Map Help and Descriptions
Relative Density
Recency
(Observations spanning multiple months or years are excluded from time charts)
Habitat
Stewardship Responsibility
References
- Literature Cited AboveLegend:
View Online Publication- Lesica, P., M.T. Lavin, and P.F. Stickney. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. Fort Worth, TX: BRIT Press. viii + 771 p.
- Additional ReferencesLegend: View Online Publication
Do you know of a citation we're missing?- Britton, N. L. and A. B. Brown. 1913. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States, Canada, and the British Possessions. 2nd Edition in 3 Volumes. New York, NY: Charles Scribner's Sons. B13BRI01PAUS.
- Lesica, P., M.T. Lavin, and P.F. Stickney. 2022. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants, Second Edition. Fort Worth, TX: BRIT Press. viii + 779 p.
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