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Huperzia crassa; photograph Haplochromis, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SAHaplochromis, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Huperzia crassa (Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd.) Rothm.

Lycopodiaceae · Mexico Southwest, Costa Rica +8

English names not checked: Wikidata's common names were not read for this page.

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Huperzia crassa, photograph Geichhorn2000, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsHuperzia crassa, photograph Dr. Alexey Yakovlev, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsHuperzia crassa, photograph Carlo Brescia, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsHuperzia crassa, photograph Carlo Brescia, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsHuperzia crassa, photograph Erick Gallardo Silva, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsHuperzia crassa, photograph Erick Gallardo Silva, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons 7 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Coldest month, mean nightly low
1.9°C
Aug at the habitat, not a floor; extremes not used (the weather cell's ground is too far off) CHELSA
Warmest month, mean daily high
11°C
Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Sep, Oct, Nov and Dec at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
2,118mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
27–33DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in the habitat's months, not shifted
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
A sharp rainy season, February to May and October to December (the habitat's months, not shifted), in a year of even temperature. rain rule, CHELSA
Not shifted: the shift rule does not apply to this habitat. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Phlegmariurus crassus is a lycophyte found in Central and South America.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Phlegmariurus crassus", CC BY-SA 4.0; its title is one of this species' older names (GBIF Backbone), which is the proof that the article is this species'.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,501 mm of 2,075 mm) falls in February to May and October to December. The temperature curve is flat, 1.8 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere. The habitat lies within 10° of the equator, where the shift rule does not apply, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Rain

2,075 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,501 mm of it February to May and October to December. Wettest month April at 258 mm, driest month August at 72 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,342 mm to 3,827 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 2,118 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 2,075 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, southern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 27 to 33 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 24, the highest 90th-percentile month 38).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 1.9 °C in August (across the grid cells of the range -1.8 °C to 6.0 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 10.9 °C in March, April, October and November (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: none read. The nearest figure is 1.9 °C, the coldest month's mean nightly low, August, in the median year (CHELSA); a month's mean of its nightly lows is warmer than the nights a floor is read from. The daily extremes were read at a weather cell whose ground is too far above or below the typical spot to correct for, and are not used.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 65 to 69% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. No cold floor is read without a daily extremes series; the coldest month's mean nightly low named in its sentence is not one. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, southern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Huperzia crassa through the yearWarmest months January, February, March, April, May, September, October, November and December, mean daily high 11 °C; coldest month August, mean nightly low 1.9 °C; 2,075 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA. Habitat months, southern hemisphere.-5°0°5°10°15°20°frost°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 27–33RH 65–69%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 191 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C11 / 8–1411 / 9–1411 / 9–1511 / 9–1411 / 8–1410 / 8–1410 / 7–1410 / 8–1511 / 8–1511 / 9–1511 / 9–1411 / 9–14
Night °C3 / 0–63 / 0–74 / 1–74 / 1–74 / 0–73 / -1–62 / -2–62 / -2–62 / -1–63 / 0–63 / 0–63 / 0–6
Rain mm173 / 81–281199 / 116–317252 / 156–355258 / 152–396194 / 59–423122 / 28–32079 / 27–29272 / 27–278128 / 66–307195 / 98–429210 / 109–372193 / 123–290
DLI30 / 27–3430 / 27–3429 / 26–3328 / 25–3227 / 24–3227 / 24–3228 / 25–3432 / 28–3733 / 29–3832 / 27–3630 / 26–3530 / 27–34
RH %68 / 63–7269 / 64–7369 / 65–7369 / 65–7368 / 63–7367 / 61–7367 / 60–7365 / 59–7165 / 61–7067 / 63–7067 / 64–7068 / 63–71

The daily extremes were not used: the correction for elevation, +1256 m, is beyond the 1,000 m either way that a lapse rate is applied over, so the weather cell's ground is other terrain than the typical spot's. So no cold floor is read for this species, and the coldest month's mean nightly low is not taken as one. What that cell gave, so corrected, over 44 years: absolute minimum -5.7 °C, 1st-percentile night -2.2 °C.

How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 191 grid cells holding the 528 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1821:2032 (-1.075, -78.375). Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 191 distinct grid cells holding 528 of the 528 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1821:2032 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -1.00_-78.125, lapse-corrected +1256 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 3751 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.

This species has no GBIF key of its own. Its records are GBIF's under the key of the name Kew's World Checklist holds as this plant: 8314351 (Phlegmariurus crassus (Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd.) B.Øllg., 1733 records). No name was matched to GBIF; the keys are read from Kew's synonymy. How.

NativeMexico Southwest, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker-0.333, -78.25 · in the densest population, 504 records (65% of those in range)
Kew's description“subshrub” · “montane tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 772 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 528 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 411 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 2 km away. 6 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 244 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
Other GBIF keysRecords also from GBIF's key 8314351 (Phlegmariurus crassus (Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd.) B.Øllg.): Kew's file holds it as Phlegmariurus crassus (Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd.) B.Øllg. (synonym under Huperzia crassa (Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd.) Rothm.); 1,733 records, from GBIF's download.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 772 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Huperzia crassa, photograph 1did not loadHuperzia crassa, photograph 2did not loadHuperzia crassa, photograph 3did not loadHuperzia crassa, photograph 4did not loadHuperzia crassa, photograph 5did not loadHuperzia crassa, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: Geichhorn2000, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Dr. Alexey Yakovlev, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Carlo Brescia, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (2); Erick Gallardo Silva, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (2).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Plantago rigida Plantago rigida Plantaginaceae Photo: CC BY, Denis ZabinRumex tolimensis Rumex tolimensis Polygonaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedAzorella pedunculata Azorella pedunculata Apiaceae Photo: CC BY, Yuri SofronovPolylepis pauta Polylepis pauta Rosaceae Photo: CC BY, Dick Culbert from Gibsons, B.C., CanadaValeriana rigida Valeriana rigida Caprifoliaceae Photo: CC BY, Denis ZabinGentianella cerastioides Gentianella cerastioides Gentianaceae Photo: CC BY, Denis Zabin

Other Huperzia 19 in the reference

Huperzia carinata Huperzia carinata Lycopodiaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Mokkie Huperzia dacrydioides Lycopodiaceae Huperzia fordii Huperzia fordii Lycopodiaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Keisotyo Huperzia goebelii Lycopodiaceae Huperzia hippuris Lycopodiaceae Huperzia lucidula Huperzia lucidula Shining fir-moss Photo: CC BY, Steven Lamonde Huperzia megastachya Lycopodiaceae Huperzia miyoshiana Huperzia miyoshiana Pacific firmoss Photo: CC BY, Noah How Huperzia nummulariifolia Lycopodiaceae Huperzia obtusifolia Lycopodiaceae Huperzia phlegmaria Lycopodiaceae Huperzia phlegmarioides Huperzia phlegmarioides Lycopodiaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz all 20 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Lycopodium crassum; Urostachys crassus; Phlegmariurus crassus. (WCVP, RBG Kew)

IPNIPOWOWikidataWFOWikipedia

The record

Family
Lycopodiaceae
Described by
(Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd.) Rothm.
Native to
Mexico Southwest, Costa Rica, Guatemala +7
Wild records
772 in range · 411 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
Kew's names (WCVP) kew.names answeredas of 2026-06-04Kew's entry Huperzia crassa (Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd.) Rothm. (plant_name_id 3139872), read from Kew's names file
GBIF species record gbif.species not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21this species has no GBIF key of its own; its records are read under GBIF's keys for the names Kew's file holds as this plant, never by a name matched; GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 1733 records of GBIF's key 8314351, Phlegmariurus crassus (Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd.) B.Øllg. (Kew's file holds it as Phlegmariurus crassus (Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd.) B.Øllg. (synonym under Huperzia crassa (Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd.) Rothm.)): the GBIF download; 2 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (2 at a herbarium; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -1.00_-78.125, lapse-corrected +1256 m at 6.5 °C/km; read, and set aside: the correction for elevation, +1256 m, is beyond the 1,000 m either way that a lapse rate is applied over, so the weather cell's ground is other terrain than the typical spot's, so no cold floor is shown
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22found by Kew's IPNI identifier 124844-2, POWO 124844-2
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22Wikipedia redirects Huperzia crassa to Phlegmariurus crassus, an older name of this species (Phlegmariurus crassus)
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild not asked
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
Wikimedia Commons commons answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 48 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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