Diphasiastrum sitchense

Alaskan Clubmoss is a low evergreen perennial with clustered, branching, upright shoots growing from slender, above-ground or slightly buried, rooting, horizontal stems. Branches are circular in cross-section, most are short at 3-10 cm, vegetative, and bear leaves in longitudinal rows of five. The thick, firm, incurved, sharp pointed green leaves are 3-6 mm long and less than 1 mm wide. Fewer, taller reproductive branches, up to 17.5 cm tall, have similar but less crowded leaves, often in ranks of six, and bear one or more terminal club-like cones where spores are produced. The cones, about 1-4 cm long, are composed of tightly packed straw colored or slightly greenish sporophylls, ca. 2-3 mm long and 1.5-3 mm wide, with kidney-shaped sporangia attached within at their bases.