Selaginella selaginoides : Low Spikemoss

Scientific Name:

Kingdom: Plantae

Division:

• Tracheophyta (vascular)
• Pteridophyta (spore bearing)

Class: Lycopodiopsida (club-moss class)

Family: Selaginellaceae (Spikemoss Family)

Genera: Selaginella (Spikemoss) (Lat. diminutive of selago = little club-moss)

Species: selaginoides (Lat. another diminutive of selago = little club-moss)

English Name(s):

Low Spikemoss,

First Nation Names:

Structure:

• Fertile stems ascending, to 15mm long.
• Plant tiny, delicate, forming small mats.
• Vegetative stems weak, slender, more or less prostrate

Leaves:

• Yellow-green, 1.5-3mm long,broadly lanceolate, tips tapering to a point, edges widely spiny-toothed.

Reproductive Parts:

• Strobili cylindrical, solitary, borne at the stem tips, 2-4 cm long, sessile (stalkless).

Seed:

• microspores (male spores) and megaspores (female spores).

Not to Be Confused With:

• Mosses; until one recognizes this little vascular plant, it could be mistaken for a moss.

Physiology:

Life Cycle:

• Perennial
• Spores develop into a thallus, and are fertilized before being shed.

Seasonal Cycle:

• Evergreen

Animal Uses:

Habitat:

• Damp mossy ground, moist banks, bogs, boggy woods, especially on calcareous soil.

Modern:

Industrial:

Medicinal:

Food:

Traditional Gwich'in:

Folklore:

Industrial:

Medicinal:

Food:

Traditional Other:

Folklore:

• Some first nations wore the fresh plants on their clothes to prevent sickness.

Industrial:

Medicinal:

• Plants were placed on the head as a headache remedy, or were boiled in water and the strained, cooled liquid used as a medicinal eye wash.

Food: