Fern found in SC woods--what is it?

[raccoon]

Somebody told me the name; it started "lyca (sp?) but I can't remember the rest.

He also told me it's evergreen, wild, in the days of the dinosaurs it grew to 60-80 feet high (now it's about 6-8 INCHES)and American colonists and Native American used it as a substitute for talcum powder (for chafing).

Can anybody tell me the name of it?

[mzteris]

1. Lycopodium clavatum? n/t

[raccoon]

5. Yes! nt

[mike_c]

2. Lycopodium....

Not a true fern. Lycopodium is club moss.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lycopodium

[raccoon]

4. Thanks for the link. nt

[raccoon]

3. Thanks for both responses. That was it, at the time I thought,

"like-a-podium" to try to remember it. (Obviously didn't work!)

[Odin2005]

6. Correction: BEFORE the days of the Dinosaurs.

The last tree lycophytes went extinct in the Permian, Dinosaurs wern't around till the mid Triassic. :)