Club Moss

Lycopodium clavatum 1. and other club mosses

indigenous to Europe (Lycopodium spp.; cf. also

Huperzia selago) are known by a variety of

common names, including Druid's foot herb,

Druid's foot, Druid's plant, Druid's flour, Druid's

foot flour, witches' plant, witches' flour, witches'

flour plant, witches' dust, snake moss, devil's claw,

devil's claw flour, devil's rubbish, and disquiet. The

spores are known as witches' flour, Druid's flour,

lightning powder, dusting powder, and moss

powder. These names suggest an ancient use in

pagan rituals and strong associations with witchcraft.

One German name, biiriapp, means "uterine

ointment" (Beckmann and Beckmann 1990, 196*).

Lycopodium clavatum and similar species

(L. cernuum 1., 1. hamiltonii Spreng., 1. serratum

Thunb., 1. subulifolium Wall. ex Hook. et Grev.)

are found also in Nepal. There, the club moss is

sacred to the Hindu god Vishnu and is used in

garlands and other objects at his festivals.

Club moss (Lycopodium clavatum 1.) contains

a toxic or psychoactively effective alkaloid

complex that is generally referred to as "c1avatine" which even includes nicotine (Roth et al. 1994,

477*).