''Selaginella selaginoides'' is a non-flowering plant of the spikemoss genus ''Selaginella'' with a wide distribution around the

Northern Hemisphere The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the Equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined as being in the same celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the solar system as Earth's Nort ...

. It resembles a

moss Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophyta (, ) '' sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and hor ...

in appearance but is a vascular plant belonging to the division Lycopodiophyta. It has a number of common names including lesser clubmoss, club spikemoss, northern spikemoss, low spikemoss and prickly mountain-moss. This plant has one close relative, ''Selaginella deflexa'', native to Hawaii. These two plants form a small clade that is sister to all other ''Selaginella'' species.

Description

It is a small, delicate, low-growing plant. Its perennial sterile stems are short, slender and irregularly branched reaching up to 15 cm in length. They creep along the ground but usually turn upwards near the tip. They have small, pointed, triangular leaves about 1–2 mm long, each bearing a

ligule A ligule (from "strap", variant of ''lingula'', from ''lingua'' "tongue") is a thin outgrowth at the junction of leaf and leafstalk of many grasses (Poaceae) and sedges. A ligule is also a strap-shaped extension of the corolla, such as that of a ...

on its upper surface near the base. The plant also produces annual fertile shoots. They are more robust than the sterile stems and stand erect. They are usually 3–6 cm tall and 4–6 mm across but can grow to 10 cm when conditions are favourable. Their leaves are slightly longer than those of the sterile stems and are spirally arranged around the stem, pointing upwards. The fertile shoots bear stout, yellowish cones which are only slightly differentiated from the branch. The cones usually bear two kinds of sporangia: lobed megasporangia in the lower part of the cone which produce

megaspores Megaspores, also called macrospores, are a type of spore that is present in heterosporous plants. These plants have two spore types, megaspores and microspores. Generally speaking, the megaspore, or large spore, germinates into a female gametoph ...

and simple microsporangia in the upper part which produce many tiny microspores.

Distribution and habitat

It has a near-circumpolar distribution in the northern hemisphere, including northern parts of Europe, Asia and

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

including Greenland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands. In Europe it occurs south to the Pyrenees,

Apennines The Apennines or Apennine Mountains (; grc-gre, links=no, Ἀπέννινα ὄρη or Ἀπέννινον ὄρος; la, Appenninus or – a singular with plural meaning;''Apenninus'' (Greek or ) has the form of an adjective, which wou ...

and Caucasus. In Asia it reaches

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

while in North America it occurs south as far as Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan and Maine. It is found in damp places with neutral to alkaline soils, most often in mountainous areas. It inhabits

bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and muskeg; a ...

s, the shores of streams and lakes, wet cliffs and ledges, grassland and

dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, f ...

slacks. It is a poor competitor which does not grow in areas with tall, dense vegetation. In North America it mainly grows from 600 to 2900 m above sea-level, occasionally reaching 3800 m. It Britain it has been recorded from sea-level to 1065 m. The species is not considered to be globally threatened but has declined in some areas due to drainage and habitat destruction. In Britain and Ireland it had mostly disappeared from lowland areas by 1930, but its distribution in upland areas remains largely unchanged.

Notes

*Flora of North America
''Selaginella selaginoides''
Accessed 30 July 2008. *Heidel Bonnie & Handley, Joy (2006)
''Selaginella selaginoides'' (L.) Beauv. ex Mart. & Schrank (club spikemoss): A Technical Conservation Assessment
'. Accessed 30 July 2008. *Hutchinson, G. (1996) ''Welsh Ferns'', National Museums and Galleries of Wales. *Page C. N. (1982) ''The Ferns of Britain and Ireland'', Cambridge University Press. *Preston, C. D. & Pearman, D. A. (2002) ''New Atlas of the British and Irish Flora'', Oxford University Press. *

Stace, Clive A. Clive Anthony Stace (born 1938) is a British botanist and botanical author. He studied at King's College London, graduated from University of London in 1959 and then studied at the Natural History Museum, London. He was awarded a PhD in 1963. H ...

(1997) ''New Flora of the British Isles'', Cambridge University Press. *Tutin, T. G. ''et al.'' (1964) '' Flora Europaea'', Volume 1. Cambridge University Press. {{Taxonbar, from=Q1245997 selaginoides Flora of Europe Flora of the Pyrenees Flora of the Alps Flora of Saint Pierre and Miquelon