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In the morning of December 18^th the ground in southern Estonia was white with snow at least for a short interlude. The weekend spruce seekers walked in a late autumn forest warm after the storm. Just in spruce forests the club moss grows very well. Earlier braids were made of it for decorating rooms during the holiday period.

 

The evergreen bristly club-moss is the most widely spread club moss species in our forests (the softer, denser but protected species wolf’s-foot club moss is less often seen).  The club-mosses hold their little leaves outspread and turned slightly downwards. The leaf tips feel stiff and even a little sharp.

 

It is useful to know that the club moss is a cryptogam or fern plant that reproduces by spores, thus very slowly: the development of a new plant, even in favourable growing conditions, may take some 10 years.