This is a primitive vascular plant in the ancient division Lycophyta that included tree-like forms dating back to the Carboniferous era 300 million years ago. It is related to club-mosses of the genus Lycopodium. The evergreen, scale-like leaves resemble a conifer, except these plants are low-growing and mat-like (cespitose). In size and growth form they superficially resembling mosses; however, true mosses are nonvascular plants that belong to the division Bryophyta.

This is an interesting native perennial that appears in the Arboretum each spring after sufficient rainfall. The fruit is composed of three (or five follicles), each developing from a separate carpel (pistil). When describing flowers such as these, the term gynoecium is preferable to the term pistil. The gynoecium is a collective term for the carpels of a flower. Monocarpous flowers are composed of one carpel (a simple pistil). The terms apocarpous and syncarpous refer to compound pistils composed of more than one carpel. Apocarpous flowers contain two or more distinct carpels (such as the peony shown above). In syncarpous flowers, two or more carpels are fused together.