Phlegmariurus phlegmaria, synonym Huperzia phlegmaria, commonly known as either coarse tassel fern or common tassel fern,[2] is an epiphytic[3] species native to rainforests in Madagascar, some islands in the Indian Ocean, Asia, Australasia and many Pacific Islands.

Phlegmariurus phlegmaria is commonly found in moist forests and rainforests at high altitudes, in and amongst mosses and other epiphytes.

The specialised fluid-conducting tissues of vascular plants distinguish lycophytes from the more basal bryophytes (mosses and liverworts).

Phlegmariurus phlegmaria is native to east, west and south tropical Africa (in Cameroon; Comoros; Equatorial Guinea; Gabon; Ghana; Madagascar; Malawi; São Tomé and Príncipe; Sierra Leone; Tanzania (including the Zanzibar Archipelago); and Uganda); temperate and tropical Asia (in the Chinese provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Yunnan; the southern Japanese prefecture of Kyushu, and the Ryukyu Islands; Malaysia; Sri Lanka; Taiwan; and Thailand); Australasia (in the northeast of Queensland in Australia; and New Zealand); and the northwest and southwest Pacific (in Fiji; Guam; and the Chuuk island group of Micronesia).

Historically clubmoss spore coats have been used in the formation of fireworks and used in flash powders in the early life of photography.