Fan Clubmoss, IMG_0546.JPG

Aha! Sometimes the old ways are best. Found this plant in my 1967 miniature Golden Press Nature Guide to Non-flowering Plants, which is old enough that it includes fungi as non-flowering plants. (We now know, thru molecular evidence & other avenues, that fungi are a separate kingdom -- they're actually more closely related to animals than they are to plants.)

Low carpets of this graceful non-flowering plant on the swamp forest floor provided an early touch of green. It mostly seems to spread by runners, but once in a while we saw these, which look like remains of last year's fruiting bodies. I uploaded another shot which shows the greenery better. I can't call it "the leaves," because the aren't really leaves -- they're chlorophyll-bearing stems. This plant is an evolutionary relic from the days before plants evolved leaves.

Think I've got the species right -- corrections welcome.