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Selaginella (Diminutive of Selago the old)
(diminutive of Selago, the old name for another Lycopod). ORD. Lycopodiaceae. A vast genus (upwards of 300 species) of stove, greenhouse, or hardy, evergreen plants, much resembling Mosses. "The genus is concentrated in the tropical zone, and has its head-quarters in tropical America. Only two species extend their range into Europe; and the Selaginellas of the Cape, temperate Australia, and South temperate America, are neither numerous nor remarkable. . . . . Habit entirely of Lycopodium, from which it differs by its dimorphic spores and sporangia, some of the species, small and fugacious, resembling Hepaticoe, with not more than two vascular bundles on the main stems. Stems copiously branched, the ultimate branching usually flabellate-dichotomous, trailing, sub-erect, sarmentose, or scandent, with the root-fibres confined to the base, or in the trailing species extended to the upper nodes; in shape more or less distinctly quadrangular, the faces angled (stems goniotropous, Spring) or the faces flat (stems pleuro-tropous, Spring); nodes sometimes distinctly articulated. Leaves small, furnished only with a single central vein, usually tetrastichous and dimorphous, and more or less oblique, the two rows of the lower plane larger and more spreading, the two rows of the upper ascending, adpressed to the stem and imbricated; in the sub-genus Euselaginella multifarious, or, if tetrastichous, all alike. Spikes usually tetrastichous and often sharply square, but in two sub-genera dimorphic on the same plan as the leaves, but mostly resupinate (i.e., the small bracts on the same plane as the large leaves, and vice versa)" (J. G. Baker, to whose admirable monograph of Selaginella, in the "Journal of Botany," 1883-5, we are indebted for the appended descriptions of the species best known to cultivation in this country). Selaginellas grow freely in any light soil, which should be kept open by intermixing charcoal, or small potsherds, through it. They require to be kept quite moist at all times, and prefer shade. Propagated readily from cuttings, made from the creeping stems, which emit roots at nearly every joint. S. Kraussiana is the well-known Lycopod so useful for edgings to greenhouse beds, and for decorative purposes in pots. This may be propagated in quantity at any season. Cuttings for preserving a collection of the species should be inserted, about February or March, in the pots or pans in which they are to remain for the season. Both stove and greenhouse Selaginellas succeed under somewhat similar conditions respectively to stove and greenhouse Ferns.
S. affinis (related). stems 1ft. or more long, trailing, flat on the back, bisulcate on the face, jointed at the nodes, forked low down and copiously pinnate, with erecto-patent, copiously compound branches. l. of the lower plane obtuse on the branchlets, ascending, oblong-lanceolate, acute, 1/8in. to 1/6in. long, bright green; leaves of the upper plane one-third as long, oblique-oblong, cuspidate, imbricated. spikes 1/4in. to 1/2in. long; bracts ovate, cuspidate, strongly keeled. Guiana. A rare, stove species. SYN. S. rigida (of gardens).
S. africana (African). A synonym of S. Vogelii.
S. albo-nitens (shining-white).* stems slender, trailing, copiously pinnate, the upper branchess imple, the lower slightly compound. l. of the lower plane spaced on the main stem, spreading, oblong-lanceolate, one line long, bright green, rather unequal-sided, rounded on the upper side at the base, shortly ciliated; leaves of the upper plane one-third as long, oblique-ovate, distinctly cuspidate. spikes 1/4in. to 1/2in. long; bracts acute, very crowded, strongly keeled. West Indies. Greenhouse.
S. amaena (pleasing). A variety of S. caulescens.
S. apoda (footless). A garden name for S. apus.
S. apus (footless).* stems slender, trailing, densely matted, 1in. to 4in. long, the short, distant, erecto-patent branches simple or forked. l. of the lower plane spaced below the tips of the branches, the upper spreading, the lower reflexed, ovate, acute, half a line long, unequal-sided; leaves of the upper plane half as long, shortly cuspidate. spikes 1/4in. to 1/2in. long; bracts ovate, acute, about one line long, strongly serrulated. Canada, &c. Greenhouse. SYNS. S. apoda and S. densa (of gardens). S. argentea (silvery), of Spring. A variety of S. caulescens. The name argentea is also used in trade catalogues for S. erythropus. S. ascendens (ascending). A form of S. Martensii.
S. atroviridis (dark green).* stems sub-erect, 6in. to 12in. long, flat on the back, the root-fibres confined to the lower part, decompound, the branching between pinnatifid and pinnate. l. of the lower plane close, both on the stem and branches, spreading or rather ascending, oblong-rhomboid, sub-obtuse, 1/5in. to 1/4in. long, bright green, unequal-sided, obscurely or distinctly ciliated; leaves of the upper plane half as long, oblong, long-cuspidate, much imbricated. spikes square, 1/2in. to 1in. long; bracts ovate, acute, strongly keeled. Madras, &c. Stove.
S. azorica (Azores). stems trailing, rooting nearly to the tip, 2in. to 3in. long, with several short, compound branches. l. of the lower plane contiguous on the branches, oblique-oblong, nearly equilateral, acute, 1/8in. long, rounded at the base, serrulated from base to apex along both branches, bright green; leaves of the upper plane much imbricated, more than half as long as the others, oblique, oblong-lanceolate. Azores. Greenhouse. S. bellula (rather pretty), of Moore. A synonym of S. inaequalifolia perelegans.
S. brasiliensis (Brazilian). stems trailing, 2in. to 4in. long, copiously pinnate, the branches erecto-patent, the upper simple, the lower slightly decompound. l. of the lower plane spaced and spreading, except towards the tips of the branches, nearly or quite one line long, bright green, cordate at base on the upper side, distinctly ciliated and imbricated over the stem; leaves of the upper plane half as long, distinctly cuspidate. spikes 1/4in. to 1/2in. long; bracts ovate-lanceolate, strongly keeled. Brazil. Greenhouse. A near ally of S. apus.
S. Braunii (Braun's). stems 1ft. to 1 1/2ft. long, erect, pale straw-colour, simple in the lower half, decompound, deltoid, and flexuous in the upper half; pinnae erecto-patent, deltoid; pinnules regular, short, deltoid, spaced; ultimate branchlets 1/8in. to 1/4in. long. l. of the lower plane contiguous only on the final branchlets, nearly spreading, ovate-rhomboid, half a line long; leaves of the upper plane one-third to half as long, shortly cuspidate. spikes short, square; bracts little longer than the sporangia. West China. A distinctly-marked and well-known, greenhouse species. S. Brownii (Brown's). A form of S. Kraussiana.
S. caesia (grey). A garden synonym of S. uncinata.
S. c. arborea (tree-like). A synonym of S. Willdenovii. S. canaliculata (channelled).* stems sub-erect, sarmentose, 3ft. to 4ft. long; pinnae deltoid, usually 4in. to 6in. long, sometimes flexuous and more elongated; lower branchlets copiously compound, the tertiary divisions more erecto-patent, and not so close as in S. inaequalifolia. l. of the lower plane crowded, oblongrhomboid, 1/12in. to 1/8in. long on the branchlets, bright green, cuneate-truncate on the upper, nearly square on the lower, side at the base; leaves of the upper plane half as long, ovate-lanceolate. spikes square, 1/4in. to 1in. long; bracts cuspidate, strongly keeled. Eastern Himalayas, &c.