When new individuals of species which possess a protocorm arise vegetatively from the leaves or roots of young plants, the protocorm appears in the young sporophyte.
The plant is reproduced by tubers, which resemble the protocorm in bearing first a number of protophylls and later the upright shoot with its single terminal strobilus.
The morphology of Stigmaria has been much discussed; possibly the main axes, which do not agree perfectly either with rhizomes or roots, may best be regarded as comparable with the rhizophores of Selaginellae; they have also been compared with the embryonic stem, or protocorm, of certain species of Lycopodium; the homologies of the appendages with the roots of recent Lycopods appear manifest.