Native Plants

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Saturday - December 20, 2008

From: Landisburg, PA
Region: Mid-Atlantic
Topic: Plant Identification
Title: Plant called crows foot/feet used to make wreaths at Christmas
Answered by: Nan Hampton

QUESTION:

In Pennsylvania there was a green ground hugging vine I knew as "crow's feet/foot" we used in the 1950s at Christmas time for wreaths and window and door borders. It looked like a cluster of bird's feet and grew in long vines. What is the proper name of this wild plant?

ANSWER:

Mr. Smarty Plants has come up with two possibilities for plants with "crowfoot/feet" or "crow's foot/feet" as part of their common names. These are:

Lycopodium digitatum (fan clubmoss) called Crowfoot Club-moss in Hort.net. Here are more photos.

Sedum ternatum (woodland stonecrop) called Crow's Feet in East Tennessee Wildflowers. Here are more photos.

These both occur in Pennsylvania and though not technically vines, they are both trailing low-growing evergreen plants.

If neither of these is the plant you remember, please send us more description or photographs if you have them (see Ask Mr. Smarty Plants' Plant Identification page for instructions on submitting photos).

Mr. Smarty Plants would be very interested to know if either of these is the plant you used for making wreaths.

Lycopodium digitatum