club moss

noun

: any of an order (Lycopodiales) of primitive vascular plants (such as ground pine) often with the sporangia borne in club-shaped strobili

Examples of club moss in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The club moss, or the beaver, or the chipping sparrow, or the black crappie, or wild rice? —Pamela Miller, Star Tribune, 9 July 2021

Plants that won't overgrow the container, such as boxwood, croton, Joseph's coat, pineapple verbena and twiggy spikemoss for sun-loving plants, and gnome ivy, golden club moss, Irish or Scottish club moss and miniature ferns for shade-loving plants. —Jennifer Nalewicki, Popular Mechanics, 16 Nov. 2020

But during the Carboniferous period, which stretched from about 360 to 300 million years ago, the region was a subtropical swamp dominated by lycopids, giant relatives of today’s club mosses that could grow over a hundred feet tall. —Tim Vernimmen, National Geographic, 23 Dec. 2019

Flowers had not evolved, and the ground was dominated by primitive plants called lycopods (ancestors of club mosses and quillworts). —Sarah Kaplan, chicagotribune.com, 30 May 2018

Word History

First Known Use

1597, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

club moss

noun

: any of an order of low often trailing evergreen plants (as the ground pine) having branching stems covered with small mosslike leaves and reproducing by spores usually borne in club-shaped cones

Medical Definition

club moss

noun

: any of an order (Lycopodiales) of primitive vascular plants including several (genus Lycopodium) whose spores are used as a dusting powder and to coat pills