FRIDAY GREENS #9 - SELAGINELLA

Selaginella is the sole genus of vascular plants in the family Selaginellaceae, the spikemosses or lesser clubmosses. This family is placed in the class Isoetopsida, distinguished from the sister group Lycopodiopsida by having scale-leaves bearing a ligule and by having spores of two types.

Selaginella species are creeping or ascendant plants with simple, scale-like leaves (microphylls) on branching stems from which roots also arise. The plants are heterosporous (megaspores and microspores), and have structures called ligules, scale-like outgrowths near the base of the upper surface of each microphyll and sporophyll. Under dry conditions, some species of Selaginella roll into brown balls (a phenomenon known as poikilohydry). In this state, they may be uprooted. Under moist conditions the brown balls become green, because of which these are also known as resurrection plants (as in Selaginella bryopteris).

Illustrated here is Selaginella kraussiana, sometimes known by the common names Krauss's spikemoss, Krauss's clubmoss, and African clubmoss, is a clubmoss found naturally in the Canary Islands, the Azores and parts of mainland Africa. S. kraussiana is cultivated for ornamental purposes and has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. It requires a minimum temperature of 5 °C, and in temperate regions is grown under glass as a houseplant.

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