eFlora of India

Category: Selaginella

  • Selaginella adunca

    Selaginella adunca A.Braun ex Hieron., in H.G.A.Engler & K.A.E.Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenfam. 1(4): 674 (1901) ;
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    W. Central Himalaya to W. Nepal: China South-Central, Nepal, Tibet, West Himalaya as per POWO;
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    Selaginella adunca: Rare and Endemic NW Himalayan Species: 5 images.
    I am sharing a few pictures of Selaginella adunca, a rare and endemic species of the NW Himalayas from the Selaginellaceae family, which has not yet been discussed or listed on the eFlora of India group/site.
    Botanical Name: Selaginella adunca A.Braun ex Hieron.
    Distribution: India (H.P. and U.K.) and Nepal
    Habitat: Rock crevices, both open and shady semi-moist/dry slopes.
    Place of Shot: Bilaspur, H.P. (Cultivated at Hamirpur, H.P.)
    Date: 04 April, 2024

    Yes, that’s right!.  Don’t worry the e-flora is far from complete and they are gradually assimilating the information from my 3 volumes of the Annotated Checklist of Indian Pteridophytes (though they often don’t like to admit it!), where of course S. adunca is treated.   So it will be in in due course, one assumes.  It is locally common N. of Mussoorie and there is  a very slightly different vicariant of it in China, the typical bicentric distribution of species that like rather dry conditions and can’t stand the central Himalayan wet climate (from C. Nepal to Sikkim).
    Now I suggest going to Pithoragarh to look for the superb S. pulvinata, another and much rarer dry-zone species:
    c. 1700 m., on open, S.-facing, dry rock-ridge by grassy slope beside new road N. to Malpa from Tawaghat, c. 1 km. N. of Pangola, c. 15 km. N. of Tintola, c. 25 km. (by new road) N. of Tawaghat, N. of Darchula and Pithoragarh, on west side of Kali river valley, Pithoragarh District, Uttarakhand, India. CRFJ, 23.11.1994.
    21723 (FN 390). Selaginella pulvinata (proposed to be the original “Sanjeevani” herb of Valmiki’s Ravanala, see Fraser-Jenkins, Indian Fern J. (2010), I find it has a slightly bitter taste, CRFJ 2012).  PC. Mostly dried and curled up to form brown tennis-ball-like spheres, but soaking opened them up to form flat rosettes. My photos 283 (200-02): 0845-0868.
    If you are able to cultivate S. adunca, you may well manage with S. pulvinata as well. A bit naughty naughty to show it in a pot? But S. adunca is locally abundant, so no harm done.
    Have you managed to keep it going through a whole year?  Those dry-loving species are rather tricky to cultivate I imagine.
    Thanks a lot, …, for your detailed insights and information on S. adunca and S. pulvinata. Regarding your question about S. adunca cultivation, yes, I have managed to keep it going for over a year now. I planted it in August 2022 after collecting it from a habitat where it was abundant. It indeed proves to be tricky to cultivate; growth is slower in cultivation compared to its rapid growth in the natural habitat.
    Thanks again for providing information about S. pulvinata. It sounds like a fascinating species to explore.

    Interesting indeed. Unique I should think!  Good luck with your Selaginellas, one could develop a Selaginelletum!

     

     

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    References:
    POWO  Catalogue of Life  GBIF (High resolution specimens) India Biodiversity Portal
    A taxonomic revision of the genus Selaginella (Selaginellaceae) from Nepal– October 2019 Phytokeys 133(4):1-76- Aleksandr Petrovich Shalimov, Yu-Dong Wu, Xian-Chun Zhang (Abstract: The present paper deals with the taxonomy of Selaginella from Nepal based on the examination of herbarium collections housed in major herbaria of Europe and Asia (with additional collections from virtual herbaria). A total of 25 species are recognised here, while Selaginella trichophylla and S. laxistrobila are two new records for the Flora of Nepal, India (Sikkim) and Bhutan; Selaginella monospora var. ciliolata is synonymised to S. trichophylla; detailed descriptions, distribution and ecology and IUCN conservation status assessments (based on literature) are presented. For most of the species, illustrations of the leaves and strobili are provided for identification of the morphologically similar taxa)

  • Selaginella inaequalifolia

    Selaginella inaequalifolia (Hook. & Grev.) Spring, Bull. Acad. Roy. Sci. Bruxelles 10: 145 (1843) (syn: Lycopodium inaequalifolium Hook. & Grev. ; Lycopodioides inaequalifolia (Hook. & Grev.) Kuntze);
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    Indian Subcontinent to N. Thailand, Sulawesi: Assam, East Himalaya, India, Myanmar, Sulawesi, Thailand as per POWO;

    Terrestrials herbs with erect, scandent stem 30-35 cm long, rooting at the base, rhizophores thick. Leaves heteromorphic throughout; median leaves 4 x 1.5 mm, elliptic, long acuminate; lateral leaves 11 x 2.5 mm, oblong-lanceolate, acute, axillary leaves 4 x 1.5 mm, elliptic, acute. Strobili 20 x 2 mm, cylindrical; sporophylls uniform, 2 x 1 mm, ovate-lanceolate, acuminate. Microspores 25 x 15 mm, white, tetrahedral to planoconvex, tuberculate. Macrospores 375 x 312-375 µm, creamy with anastomosing ridges.
    Semi-evergreen and evergreen forests.
    (Attributions: K. P. Rajesh as per India Biodiversity Portal)
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    Help with identification of a Selaginella sp.: 3 very high res. images.
    Hello, can this specimen be ided?

    Date: 29 Jan 2024
    Location: Kallar, Trivandrum, Kerala
    Habitat: Evergreen forest, hill, growing on a rock

    It seems Selaginella trachyphylla (Warb.) A.Braun ex Hieron.

    Yes, that’s Selaginella inaequalifolia.

     

     

     

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    References:
    POWO  Catalogue of Life  India Flora Online  India Biodiversity Portal

  • Selaginella reticulata

    Selaginella reticulata (Hook. & Grev.) Spring, Bull. Acad. Roy. Sci. Bruxelles 10: 233 (1843) (syn: Lycopodium reticulatum Hook. & Grev. ; Selaginella jainii R.D.Dixit ; Selaginella nairii R.D.Dixit ; Selaginella nudicaulis Spring ; Selaginella panigrahii R.D.Dixit ; Selaginella rajasthanensis Gena, Bhardwaja & A.K.Yadav );
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    Indian Subcontinent to W. Indo-China: Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand, West Himalaya as per POWO;
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    Flora of CRF_2 – efloraofindia | Google Groups: 2 images.
    Please help me to identify this small herb seen along a perrenial stream inside evergreen forest habitat. The area was moist and full of mosses.

    Selaginella sps.

    Selaginella sp

    Is it possible to identify these images from Assam in NE India?

    This is Selaginella reticulata, I can just see one medina leaaf clearly that shows it is acute, but not aristate (so is not the similar S. chrysorrihizos).

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    SK 3879 18 October 2023 – Selanginella ??: 4 very high res. images.

    Location:  Pharping, Kathmandu, Nepal
    Date: 08  October 2023
    Elevation : 1750m.
    Habitat: Wild

    Yes, possible.
    Pl. check with images at
    https://efloraofindia.com/2023/10/15/selaginella-reticulata/

    May be

     

     

     

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    References:
    POWO  Catalogue of Life

  • Selaginella species- Mudumalai wls, Nilgiris, Tamilnadu

     

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    Fern for id 080610MK1 – efloraofindia | Google Groups : 10 posts by 6 authors. Attachments (2)
    Please help to id this Pteridophyte, found abundant over marshy rocks in a moist deciduous forest area. Could this be a species of Selaginella?
    Place: Mudumalai wls, Nilgiris, TN
    Date: 05 May 2010

    I think s rupestris the resurrection plant

    Also its hard for me to find any Rhizophore here.

    To me it seems to be Selaginella kraussiana

    The Plant in the attached photo is Selaginella kraussiana and not S rupestris. I am attaching a slide showing the difference between the morphology of this two species of Selaginella.
    Attachments (1)

    Is it possible to identify these images from  Mudumalai wls, Nilgiris, Tamilnadu, South India?

    No, not really, because it is sterile young material, no strobili yet. With more experience of the place probably one could recognise which one that is, but better to show strobili.

     

  • Selaginella vogelii (Introduced)

    Selaginella vogelii Spring, Mém. Acad. Roy. Sci. Belgique 24: 170 (1849) (syn: Selaginella africana A.Braun; Selaginella dixitii Madhus. & S.Nampy);
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    Tropical Africa: Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Gulf of Guinea Is., Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Togo, Zambia, Zaïre; Introduced into: Brazil Southeast, Sri Lanka as per POWO;
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    Selaginella vogelii Spring: 3 very high res. images.

    Location: Kew, London, UK
    Altitude: 19 m.
    Date: 04 April 2022
    Habit : Cultivated / Labeled 

     

     

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    References:
    POWO  Catalogue of Life

  • Selaginella chrysorrhizos

    Selaginella chrysorrhizos Spring, Mém. Acad. Roy. Sci. Belgique 24: 251 (1849) (syn: Selaginella lakkidiana Nisha, Nampy & Joby; Selaginella panchghaniana R.D.Dixit);
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    Indian Subcontinent to Indo-China: Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam as per POWO;
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    Selaginella sp for id: 3 images.
    Location: South-west Maharashtra, Western ghats.

    Date: Jan end 2022
    Habitat: Wet rocks near waterfall. 
    Habitus- growing laterally from rockface. Size 6cm.
    I could not find any with strobili. Is it possible to id on leaf structure and arrangement alone, considering the distribution ?

    What fantastic, superb photos! – best Selaginella photo I’ve seen anywhere, clearly shows aristate median leaves and a very narrow pale margin to leaves, plus of course the strongly dimorphic sporophylls (might need one more of a strobilus from beneath to see cilia etc.?). How did you take the photos and what camera?  If only others could take such good photos of Selaginella – you deserve a prize for excellent photographic service to Pteridology!
    My first impression is Selaginella chrysorrhizos. It is in that rather ticky group, anyway. But tomorrow when I get more time I will study it more carefully and see if I still think that. I did not know of S. chrysorrhizos from Maharashtra, but it is in M.P. and in Kerala, so could well (should!) be there.

    Thank you for the id, and your appreciation (though I don’t feel that I really deserve it- I have a long way to go before I can take much better, clearer photos that show the exact features needed for the id).
    I have added a few photos of a tropophyll from various angles that might show the exact features that you are looking for. (I am still trying to search for the exact meaning of ‘dentate’ and ‘ciliate’ features of the Macro and microsporophylls!)
    PS- I am using a micro 4/3rd Olympus camera,with macro lens. The difference comes from using a good flash diffuser.
    7 images.

    PS- please read Strobilus instead of tropophyll.

    Ah yes, I did already!  Not to worry, I often get muddled with terms too!

    Well the lighting is superb – most flash pictures don’t show things all that well, against a dark background.

    About teeth, dentate means tootherd, the sides of the tooth meet at an acute apical pint, denticulate just small versions of dentation; aristate are teeth which then have extended linear tips, like a spine; ciliate are long narrow hair-like projections from the margin.  Sometimes one gets slightly intermediate states, but generally they are readily distinguishable as different kinds of teeth etc.
    A good, close photo of the underside of a strobilus should show the cilia or lack of them on megasporophylls and microsporophylls in these dimorphic strobili  – and whether ciliate at their bases etc.

    What place was it from – like the nearest small town?

    It is from Amboli ghat.

     

     

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    References:
    POWO  Catalogue of Life  GBIF (High resolution specimens) Flora of peninsular India  pteridoportal  Researchgate
    A taxonomic revision of the genus Selaginella (Selaginellaceae) from Nepal– Aleksandr Petrovich Shalimov, Yu-Dong Wu, Xian-Chun Zhang- Phytokeys 133:1-76

  • Selaginella species- Kathmandu Valley, Central Nepal


    SK 2917 10 July 2021 – Fern: 5 very high res. images.
    Location: Kathmandu Valley, Central Nepal
    Altitude: 1600 m.
    Date : 10 July 2021
    Habitat : Wild
    Selaginella. ??

    Habit ? Is it creeping / spreading ?

    Selaginella species.

    Yes … ! I have mentioned.

     

  • Selaginella species- Arunachal Pradesh

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    Selaginella from Arunachal SN 8720 : 4 posts by 3 authors. Attachments (1)- 2 mb.
    Other recipients:
    2017 observation. Thanks & regards Dr. Santhan P Industrial R&D expert, Plant taxonomist Author of the Book “Trees of our Life” Botany, Chemistry, Medicine 9444813474/9620389349
    2017 observation.

    Selaginella bisulcata Spring ??

    Unfortunately when posting photos of fern genera one has to know what is necessary to show in that particular genus for identification.
    This is a small, juvenile, poorly developed specimen and could be one of several species – inc. biformis, helferi, pennata etc. etc. You need to show the fertile strobili on an adult part of the plant in order to identify any Selaginella.
    This is not identifiable from such a photo.

  • Selaginella species- Wayanad, Kerala

    /wp-content/uploads/2020/10/DSCN2897.jpg/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/DSCN2893.jpg5 pictures for you : (mixed thread): 13 posts by 9 authors. Attachments (5)- as above.
    What is the botanical name of this creaper. It is found only during the monsoon.

    This photos are of Selaginella sp a pteridophyte.
    Hope u reposted it again … This is Selaginella sp a pteridophyte

    Anapulinji in Malayalam

    Selaginella tanera or Selaginella miniatospora compare microscopic characters

    Is it possible to identify this with these images ?

    No, not really identifiable.  The person posting doesn’t know that for Selaginella you must have adult material, not babies like this – as you must see the strobili to see if the sporophylls are isomorphic or dimorphic.
    The other thing is there is absolutely zero information concerning where it was from!!  Of course every post MUST say what State it is from as the north Indian flora is quite different from the south!  If someone posts without mentioning the Satet it is best not to even bother to post it on the website as it is a waste  of time.
       If I was absolutely forced to say something about it – without any diagnostic feature shown, nor where it was from – I suppose I might start looking around S. bisulcata or perhaps S. monospora from say Darjeeling or N.E. India somewhere. But it’s pointless to make wild guesses. The person needs to go back a bit later, find fertile material and post again, including the underside of the strobili reasonably close up.
       At least the quality of the photo is good and clear and can be magnified, which is good.
      Is Yazdy a Chinese name?  Could you ask them at least where it was from?  It could be from the flora of outer-space as far as we know!
    P.S. in the last photo I think, just possibly, I might be seeing a second small species in addition, remeniscent of S. reticulata – but again unidentifiable as there is a large group of those species, differing from north to south – and I must see the median-leaves on the top clearly, and the strobili.

    Thanks a lot, … I think it is from Wayanad, Kerala.

    If from Kerala my wild guess was unwise! – and completely wrong!  Must be a baby something else – don’t know what, yet? Is it definitely Wynad/Kerala?

    Thanks, … Most likely. However, … may confirm.

    Incidentally, about that Selaginella, seeing as it is a south Indian one, I’d start looking in about the S. praetermissa, S. intermedia sort of area. Even perhaps a baby inaequalifolia. But first you have to wait a few months until it has grown full-size and developed its strobili well- then try again.

     

  • Selaginella involvens

    Selaginella involvens (Sw.) Spring, Bull. Acad. Roy. Sci. Bruxelles 10(1): 136 1843. (syn: Lycopodioides involvens (Sw.) O.Kuntze; Lycopodioides pennula (Desv.) O.Kuntze; Lycopodium caulescens Wall.; Lycopodium involvens Sw.; Lycopodium microstachyum Desv. ex Poir. (ambiguous synonym); Selaginella bellula Cesati (ambiguous synonym); Selaginella caudispica Alderw.; Selaginella caulescens (Wall. ex Hook. & Grev.) Spring; Selaginella caulescens var. belulla (Ces.) Hieron.; Selaginella caulescens var. brachypoda Bak.; Selaginella caulescens var. gracilis Bull.; Selaginella caulescens var. japonica (Moore ex Mc Nab) Bak.; Selaginella caulescens f. minor Hieron.; Selaginella caulescens var. minor Milde; Selaginella caulescens var. minor Sandford; Selaginella caulescens var. subintegerrima Spring; Selaginella homomorpha Kl. ex Milde; Selaginella involvens var. bellula (Ces.) Hieron.; Selaginella japonica Hort. (ambiguous synonym); Selaginella merrillii Alderw.; Selaginella microstachya (Desv.) Hieron.; Selaginella microstachya Warb.; Selaginella mindanaoensis Hieron.; Selaginella pachystachys Koidz.; Selaginella peltata Presl; Selaginella pennula (Desv.) Spring; Selaginella polyura Warb.; Selaginella pseudo-stauntoniana Pamp.; Selaginella striolata Warb.; Selaginella warburgii Hieron.);
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    Tropical & Subtropical Asia to NW. Pacific: Andaman Is., Assam, Borneo, Cambodia, Caroline Is., China North-Central, China South-Central, China Southeast, East Himalaya, Hainan, India, Japan, Jawa, Laos, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Myanmar, Nansei-shoto, Nepal, Nicobar Is., Philippines, Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Taiwan, Thailand, Tibet, Vietnam, West Himalaya as per POWO;
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    China (Anhui, Chongqing, Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, Zhejiang), Taiwan, Tibet, Japan, South Korea, Ryukyu Isl., Borneo (Mt. Kinabalu, etc.), India (Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam State, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, West Bengal), Andaman Isl., Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar [Burma], Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Sulawesi, Lesser Sunda Isl. (Flores), Laos, Philippines, Java, peninsular Malaysia (Penang, Perak), Palau Isl., Tanzania (I) as per Catalogue of Life;
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    Lithophytes or epiphytes with erect or suberect stem, 30-40 cm long, 5 mm thick, including leaves. Leaves heteromorphic throughout; median leaves 1.8 x 1 mm, ovate-acuminate, ciliate; lateral leaves 2.5 x 1.5 mm, ovate, acute, ciliate; axillary leaves 2 x 1.2 mm, ovate, acute, ciliate. Strobili 5 x 2 mm, quadrangular; sporophylls isomorphic, 1.5-1.8 x 0.5-0.8 mm, ovate, acuminate, denticulate. Microspores 35 x 30 mm, warty with thin perispore. Macrospores 900 x 700 mm, dark brown.
    Growing on boulders and soil near the streams and rarely on trees, in semi-evergreen and evergreen forests.
    (Attributions- K. P. Rajesh as per India Biodiversity Portal) 
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    Selaginella involvens (Sw.) Spring SN28420 : 3 posts by 2 authors. Attachments (1)- 4 mb.
    Selaginella involvens (Sw.) Spring, wild primitive fern from Western Ghats Tamilnadu

    Selaginella species are highly specialised of recent radiation and have advanced heterospory- I am not sure why you seem to thing fern-allies are all ancient and primitive throwbacks – it isn’t so realistic!

     

  • Selaginella chrysocaulos

    Selaginella chrysocaulos (Hook. & Grev.) Spring, Bull. Acad. Roy. Sci. Bruxelles 10(1): 232, no. 141 1843. (syn: Lycopodioides chrysocaulos (Hook. & Grev.) H.S.Kung; Lycopodium chrysocaulon Hook. & Grev.; Lycopodium hypnoides Jacquemont; Selaginella hypnoides Spring (ambiguous synonym); Selaginella philippina var. khasiensis Bak.; Selaginella rosenstockii Hieron.);
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    Pakistan to China (Yunnan) and Peninsula Malaysia: Assam, China South-Central, East Himalaya, India, Malaya, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand, Tibet, Vietnam, West Himalaya as per POWO;
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    China (Guizhou, Sichuan, Yunnan), Tibet, Myanmar [Burma], ?Thailand, India (Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Manipur, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Nagaland, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Mizoram), Nepal, Bhutan, Vietnam, Jammu & Kashmir, Pakistan as per Catalogue of Life;
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    Terrestrial herbs with erect stem, 10-30 cm long, 1-1.5 mm thick, slender, cylindrical, straw coloured. Branches many towards apex, erecto-patent, compound. Rhizophores towards basal part, to 3 cm long, slender, cylindrical, dichotomously branched. Leaves heteromorphic throughout, membranous, distant along main stem, compact along branches; median leaves 0.9 x 0.4 mm, ovate, acute-acuminate, margin denticulate; lateral leaves 1.5 x 0.8 mm, ovate-lanceolate, acute or sub-acute, margin denticulate; axillary leaves 1.4 x 0.6 mm, ovate, apex acute or sub-acute, margin entire. Strobili 4.5-5 x 2.5 mm, terminal, sessile, solitary; sporophylls dimorphic, membranous, spiral, 0.7-1.2 x 0.3-0.4 mm; larger sporophylls oblong-lanceolate, acute or acuminate, denticulate; smaller sporophylls ovate, acuminate, margin denticulate. Microspores 21 um in diameter, deep-red, warty. Megaspores 180 um in diameter, pale yellow, globose, tetrahedral, verrucoid.

    in moist deciduous, semi evergreen forests
    India, Nepal, Bhutan
    (Attributions- K. P. Rajesh from India Biodiversity Portal)
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    SK1548 29 Oct 2018 : 11 posts by 3 authors. Attachments (6)
    Location: Okharpauwa, Nuwakot, Nepal
    Altitude:  5500 ft.
    Date: 13 September 2018
    Habit : Wild 
    Selaginella ?? 

    Best not to bother photographing sterile Selaginella since the strobili are well known to be diagnostic.
    Please consult the herbarium in Godavary, just up the road from you, and ask Dr. D.R. Kandl – thus helping you to learn the common species of Nepal.  You may also consult the descriptions etc. In the Checklist of Ferns and Fern Allies of Nepal, vol. 1. 2015 – which will be provided to you free of charge there.  Study in the herbarium is necessary and is the function of a herbarium.

    Enclosing some images from the book by Fraser-Jenkings  and the team. Is it one of them?
    Attachments (5)

    hopefully Selaginella chrysocaulos (Hook. & Grev.) Spring [vegetative part]

    Most probably Selaginella chrysocaulous common in Himalayas including Nepal and Bhutan. Though the diagnostic characters are not in the image.

    Sir it seems Selaginerlla chrysocaulos

    Thank you … for the ID !
    Enclosing image from the book of Dr. Fraser-Jenkins for reference.
    Attachments (1)

     

  • Selaginella species- Ornamental plant

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    ID Pls : 16 posts by 6 authors. Attachments (2)
    Pls find attached some pics sent by my friend for ID. It seems to be a fern species but not quite sure. Can any of the esteemed members help in identifying the species please?

    Fern! Yes!

    Could it be a species of Selaginella ?

    i think its a moss. need a little better picture of the mass below these leaf like structures and why is it so densely growing in pot (the first pic seems have a edge of a grey ???pot). did he plant a thousand spores? also better quality pic that can be enlarged would help

    It was purchased as an ornamental plant by one Professor. He was too curious to know the botanical details and contacted me. I too got curious. The distribution pattern of spores would have helped in better identification. I will ask him to send a better picture of the under side of fronds.

    spores i am referring to is for growing the moss. it will not show up in the fronds.
    spores show in ferns, not moss

    forgot to say it. any more informative pictures would help.

    All the while I thought specimen in the pic was a fern!

    i think you are on the right track

    its still too early, lets get more info and pictures

    Test for Selaginella. Dry few plants. Keep the dried plants for a few weeks. Pour water.  They come alive: “resurrection plant”.

    It was purchased as an ornamental plant by one Professor (in Himachal Pradesh ?)
    That is indeed a real horticultural gem of a plant – I am jealous!  Would love to grow that!  Question is which species? – but for all Selaginella we need to see the strobili in close-up detail and the cilia/teeth on the leaves – and this one is not fertile yet.
    The stiff stilt-like rhizoids remind me of S. pennata, S. bisulcata or S. plana, but that’s assuming it is Himalayan or widely cultivated in India, which I rather doubt.  It might even be an American exotic or something, as far as we know – so I can’t tell.  It does look a bit like a compressed S. bisulcata, I suppose – from Nepal eastwards to NE India.
    The other thing is its dwarf habit  suggests to me that it may well be a developed dwarf cultivar of some species, but I don’t find it in Hoshizaki’s Encyclopaedia of Cultivated Ferns. 
    If it becomes fertile later on, at least we could then see what group it is in.
    Good luck with it – it should be a Fern Show gold-medal plant!

  • Selaginella monospora

    Selaginella monospora Spring, Mém. Acad. Roy. Sci. Belgique 24: 135 1850. (syn: Lycopodioides gorvalensis (Spring) O. Kuntze; Lycopodium monosporum (Spring) Hook.; Selaginella effusa var. medogensis (Ching & S. K. Wu) W. M. Chu; Selaginella gorvalensis Spring; Selaginella medogensis Ching & S. K. Wu; Selaginella microclada Bak.; Selaginella monospora var. ciliolata W. M. Chu; Selaginella plumosa var. monospora (Spring) Bak.);
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    Nepal to S. China and Indo-China: Assam, Cambodia, China South-Central, China Southeast, East Himalaya, Hainan, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Tibet, Vietnam as per POWO;
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    Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar [Burma], Thailand, India (Arunachal Pradesh, Assam State, Manipur, Meghalaya, Sikkim, West Bengal), Bhutan, Nepal, China (Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Yunnan), Tibet as per Catalogue of Life;
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    Terrestrial herbs with decumbent stem, 30-60 cm long, 1-2 mm thick, stout, cylindrical, dark green, turning brown on dry. Branches many, pinnate. Rhizophores throughout, 6-10 cm long, slender, cylindrical. Leaves heteromorphic throughout, membranous, distant along main stem, compact along branches; median leaves imbricate, 2.6 x 1.1 mm, ovate, aristate, arista 1.1 mm long, base sub-cordate, margin denticulate; lateral leaves 3.7 x 1.25 mm, oblong-lanceolate, acute or subacute, oblique, margin denticulate; axillary leaves 3.3 x 1.25 mm, oblong-lanceolate, slightly oblique, apex acute or subacute, margin entire. Strobili 4.9 x 3.3 mm, termninal, sessile, solitary; sporophylls dimorphic, membranous, spiral, 3.3 x 0.9 mm; larger sporophylls obolong-lanceolate, acute, smaller sporophylls ovate, aristate, arista 1.9 mm long, margin denticulate. Microspores 18 um in diameter, ornge-red, trilete, papillate. Megaspores 290 um in diameter, pale yellow, globose, tetrahedral, verrucoid.
    in moist deciduous, semievergreen and evergreen forests at high altitudes
    (Attributions- K. P. Rajesh from India Biodiversity Portal)
    .

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    SK1174 05 JUNE 2018 : 9 posts by 2 authors. Attachments (3) – around 800 kb each.

    Location : Lava, Kalimpong, India
    Date : 11 May 2018
    Elevation :  7000 ft.
    Habit : Wild

    Any fern? 

     

    Moss family ??

    this is Selaginella sp. but could not close in into the specific ID.

    Well the Selaginella is young plants of the well known S. monospora that grows in huge quantity around Darjeeling, E. Nepal etc., but as there is no close-up of fertile strobili, the characteristic diagnostic features are not shown.  All Selaginella requires to show the strobili in detail – to make a more useful photo.
    The uncurling frond also shows no diagnostic features, but would presumably be Dennstaedtia zeylanica (syn. D. scabra), if a mature frond were shown. 

     

  • Selaginella crassipes

    Selaginella crassipes Spring (syn: Lycopodioides crassipes (Spring) Kuntze; Selaginella chrysospora A. Br. ex Kuhn; Selaginella fergusonii Hieron.);
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    S. India, Sri Lanka as per POWO;
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    Sri Lanka, S-India as per Catalogue of Life;
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    Selaginella : 5 posts by 4 authors. Attachments (1)
    Selaginella. Photographed in Phansad WLS, Maharashtra.

    Is it Selaginella bryopteris (L.) Baker, popularly known as Sanjeevani as per links:

    The image in the link is entirely different from the posted one  and other thing , the sps. known by the name “sanjeevini” is not this.

    Look like Selaginella crassipes more photographs please.


     

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    References:
    POWO  Catalogue of Life  Selaginella crassipes (Selaginellaceae), a New Report from India (2012)

  • Selaginella tenera

    Selaginella tenera (Hook. & Grev.) Spring (syn: Lycopodioides tenera (Hook. & Grev.) Kuntze; Lycopodium debile Bory; Lycopodium tenerum Hook. & Grev.; Selaginella debilis (Bory) Spring; Stachygynandrum obliquum Beauv.);
    .
    W. & S. India, SE. Bangladesh as per POWO;
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    India (Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala) as per Catalogue of Life;
    .


    Selaginella tenera SN27420b : 3 posts by 2 authors. Attachments (1)- 4 mb.
    Selaginella tenera (Hook. & Grev.) Spring is a wild primitive fern from Western Ghats Tamilnadu. 

    Yes – the dimorphic sporophylls are just visible. But I wouldn’t think of a Selaginella as primitive, really- in many ways they are much more advanced than other groups of Lycophytes as they have developed heterospory. Also the group has radiated greatly in relatively modern times.

     

     
     

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    References:
    POWO  Catalogue of Life  The Plant List Ver.1.1  Tropicos  Rondano Biodiversity  Europeana Collections  Herbarium JCB – IISc

  • Selaginella ciliaris

    Selaginella ciliaris (Retz.) Spring, Bull. Acad. Roy. Sci. Bruxelles 10(1): 231, no. 136 1843. (Syn: Lycopodioides ciliaris (Retz.) Kuntze; Lycopodioides depressa (Sw.) Kuntze; Lycopodioides exigua (Spring) Kuntze; Lycopodioides pumilio (R. Br.) Kuntze; Lycopodium belangeri Bory; Lycopodium ciliare Retz.; Lycopodium depressum Sw.; Lycopodium pumilio R. Br.; Selaginella belangeri (Bory) Spring; Selaginella belangeri f. olivacea Alderw.; Selaginella congregata Alderw.; Selaginella depressa (Sw.) Spring; Selaginella exigua Spring; Selaginella panchganiana R.D.Dixit; Selaginella panigrahii Dixit; Selaginella papana Alderw.; Selaginella proniflora Bak.; Selaginella pumilio (R. Br.) Spring; Selaginella ujensis Hieron.; Selaginella winkleri Hieron.; Stachygynandrum ciliare (Gmel.) Beauv.; Stachygynandrum depressum (A. Br.) Carr.; Stachygynandrum depressum var. minus (A. Br.) Carr.);
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    Tropical & Subtropical Asia to Pacific: Andaman Is., Assam, Bangladesh, Caroline Is., China South-Central, China Southeast, East Himalaya, Hainan, India, Jawa, Malaya, Maluku, Marianas, Myanmar, Nepal, New Guinea, Nicobar Is., Northern Territory, Philippines, Queensland, Solomon Is., Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, West Himalaya, Western Australia as per POWO;
    .
    China (Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Yunnan), Taiwan, Java, Nepal, India (Uttarakhand, Bihar, West Bengal, Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Orissa,
    Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Arunachal Pradesh, Darjeeling), Bangladesh, Andamans, Nicobars, Myanmar [Burma], Sri Lanka, Philippines, Thailand, New Guinea, Solomon Isl. (Bougainville, Guadalcanal, Santa Ysabel, San Jorge, Makira, Rendova), Sulawesi, N-Vietnam, S-Vietnam, Moluccas (Seram, Ternate), peninsular Malaysia (Kelantan, Pahang, Selangor, Melaka, Negeri Sembilan), Sumatra, Australia (NW-Western Australia, Northern Territory, Queensland), Northern Marianas (Pagan), Southern Marianas (Rota Isl., Guam), Palau Isl., Micronesia (Yap, Truk, Moen, Tol, Udot)     as per Catalogue of Life;
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    Please identify this fern 1 : 5 posts by 5 authors. Attachments (1)
    Photographed on the banks of my stream at Shahapur [near Bombay]. Could … please help.

    Selaginella– Pteridophyte

    Is it possible to post another snap of its sporophyll which is very crucial for identification of Selaginella specimens.

    Selaginella ciliaris

     

  • Selaginella proniflora

    Selaginella proniflora (Lam.) Bak. (syn: Lycopodioides dalzellii (Bak.) Kuntze; Lycopodioides proniflora (Lam.) Kuntze; Lycopodium caespitosum Dalz.; Lycopodium parviflorum Lam.; Lycopodium proniflorum Lam.; Selaginella dalzellii Bak.; Stachygynandrum proniflorum (Lam.) Beauv.);
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    W. & SW. India as per POWO;
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    India (Maharashtra, Karnataka), Sulawesi as per Catalogue of Life;
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    Fwd: Selaginella proniflora (lam.) Baker : 6 posts by 2 authors. Attachments (3)
    Selaginella proniflora (lam.) Baker

    I am a little dubious about these determinations!  First thing is there was no data as to where the specimens were collected.  This, and altitude are ESSENTIAL.  Was it from South India (the S. proniflora distribution area) or elsewhere? S. proniflora is confined to South India.

    Secondly S. proniflora is part of a large complex – and to recognise it you have to see the cilia on the microsporophylls.  There is no photograph to show this!  So how can a conclusion be reached – or was it just a wild guess to the group only?  I see the strobili are very long, which doesn’t normally fit that species so well, though it could still be.
    Can I please have the data as to which State it was found – and then a close-up photo of the strobilus.

    Thanks, … Most probably it is from South India. However, may I request … to pl. give details of place etc.


    The specimen was collected from Sawantvadi, District Sindhudurg, Maharashtra. id is confirmed by using Monograph “Selaginellaceae of India” by R. D. Dixit.
    Key characters are Decumbet stem, heteromorphic vegetative leaves which are strongly ciliated, Sporophyll also heteromorphic and long ciliolate but both are equal in length.
    Attachments (3)

    Well as you know, decumbent stem, heteromorphic, ciliate leaves, and heteromorphic sporophylls apply to many species, though they must also be so in S. proniflora. Turning to Alston’s monograph, which Dixit basically paraphrased, one can see that the long ciliate sporophylls are the diagnostic feature, and from the type and Alston-identified specimens at BM, I confirm (for what it may be worth) that I agree this is S. proniflora, which is well known to occur in Maharashtra, as shown by Alston (and see Indian Checklist 1: 42. 2017).
    Note that de Lamarck as the authority has a capital letter: (Lam.) Baker, not (lam.) Baker.
    Glad to know where it was from now, so no problem. It has been misidentified from N.E. India (Meghalaya) in error for S. ciliaris in the past.

  • Selaginella species- Soureni, Mirik, West Bengal

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    SK644 13 JUL-2017:ID : 3 posts by 2 authors. Attachments (3)
    Location: Soureni, Mirik, India
    Date: 20 May 2017
    Altitude: 4200 ft. 

    The same inadequate photos of a useless specimen of a juvenile Selaginella since, as I said, it is sterile. I could only give a guess, which I did, and anyone else has the same problem.  Why post it again? – everybody should realise that Selaginella specimens always need to be fertile for identification!  Please look at Alston’s monograph or Dixit’s book on Indian Selaginella to see how important the sporophylls are.
    Please rephotograph the plant when it has fully developed sporangiophores in a few weeks, then send it in with close-ups of good enough quality to see the cilia etc.
    Hope you can understand this.

  • Selaginella species- South India (?)

     

    https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-o0xceBIrTq0/WEJpk4B9YQI/AAAAAAAAA-A/zbNuxnTdn50q8eHpFZoJqL90tD-HIXLCACLcB/s1600/Sanjeevani-Plant-at-Coorg.jpg

    medicinal plant : 5 posts by 4 authors. 4 images.
    According to Hindu mythology, Sanjeevani is a miraculous herb possessing the power to cure practically any ailment! What’s most astounding in this regard is that this herb is believed to even possess the ability to revive the dead!
    This herb is mentioned in the Ramayana when Ravana’s son Indrajit severely injures and nearly slaughters Lakshmana.  To treat Lakshmana, Hanuman was summoned to fetch the Sanjeevani herb from mount Dunagiri  located in the Himalayas. On reaching mount Sumeru, Hanuman, unable to recognize the herb, lifted the whole mountain, bringing it to the battle-field!
    The popular word “Sanjeevani”, when translated, means “One that infuses life”. This in turn derives from the myriad medicinal properties of this plant; the Sanjeevani herb is thought to possess 101 types of medicinal powers! In India, traditionally, the dry Sanjeevani has been used to treat several human health ailments for centuries together!
    The Sanjeevani plant is found in the Indian Western Ghats, especially Coorg. This plant grows in regions that receive plentiful supply of rainfall. Sanjeevani is extensively utilized by the tribals of Coorg called the Kurubas, who use it as medication for wounds and ulcers. They also drink this plant’s juice with milk and honey to stay healthy. Interestingly, this is also a special medicine in the tribal areas.

    Must be a Pteridophyte, Selaginella sp.
    Selaginella spp. in eFI.

    Above one looks like Selaginella rupestris

    Well there’s a lot of confusion here!  I must suggest with apologies that the writer refers to a paper of my own on Sanjeevani, where for the first time a botanist has been able to relate the range of a species to Valmiki’s Ramayana. After all, if sanjeevani grew in the western Ghats, why would Lord Hanuman have to travel three or four times as far up to Dronagiri in Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand, in the Himalaya to collect it?

    However there IS actually one species of Selaginella with even more impressive “coming back to life” ability than the often sold Selaginella bryopteris, and complying better with the large symbolic element in many traditional plants (e.g. in yarsagumpa).  This is Selaginella pulvinata, which in India only grows around Dronagiri and up the valley from there in Pithoragarh.  S. pulvinata has also been found independently in China to be a considerable medicinal plant, with among other uses, the ability to help assuage internal hemorrhage – as Laxmana was suffering from after being shot by the Ravana’s arrow.
    Anyway, have a look at this paper about it:
    Fraser-Jenkins, C.R. 2013. Sanjeevani cannot be Selaginella bryopteris, Indian Fern J. 29(1 & 2): 183-195. It is illustrated photographically.
         Interestingly …, no less, who has led several fanciful wild-goose chases after sanjeevani in the west Indo-Himalaya, has apparently persuaded the Uttarakhand State Govt. to plan to spend many corot’s of rupees looking for sanjeevani – but I believe it is already now identified in a respectable Indian botanical journal and is right under their noses!
          Concerning the input, the species illustrated is nothing to do with sanjeevani, and is not one of those species that exhibit a “coming back to life” after dessication phenomenon. The writer has failed to say where the plant was photographed (which State, at least, must be mentioned if one has any scientific care) and whether it is natural or cultivated.  It has also been widely misidentified as Selaginella bryopteris is not at all like that, and S. pulvinata even less so!
           It is not S. rupestris, which does not occur in India at all – I don’t where people read this kind of inaccurate generalised information from for making their wild guess!  But they have evidently not seen any of the standard pteridological literature from Indian botanists, including the late Dr. Dixit’s book on Selaginella, based on Alston’s work.
          It looks a little like S. subdiaphana, common in the west Indo-Himalaya, but may be too foliose for that – could even be S. monospora if in the N.C. Indo-Himalaya (Darjeeling, Sikkim). There are other similar species in South India.  But unfortunately the photos are inadequate to identify Selaginella species.  1. The plants are sterile (or if not, no details of strobili can be seen), so we can’t see if they had dimorphic sporophylls or not. 2. The photos did not include any close-up of leaves on branches to study the diagnostic features.  So I can’t really hazard a serious guess until we can see more.
         But in any event, it is definitely not the species commonly held and sold to be sanjeevani, S. bryopteris.
         Interesting subject though!

     

     

  • Selaginella wightii ?

    Selaginella wightii Hieron, Hedwigia 39: 319 (1900) (syn: Bryodesma wightii (Hieron.) Soják; Selaginella wightii var. venusta Hieron.);
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    S. India, Sri Lanka as per POWO;
    .

    Lithophytic herbs with creeping, much branched stem, 20-30 x 0.10-0.15 cm; greenish during wet season and silvery or greyish-white and curled when dry. Leaves isomorphic throughout, 2-2.5 x 0.1 mm, linear, fimbriate, stiff, light greenish to silvery. Strobili 4-6 x 1-1.2 mm, cylindrical, sporophylls isomorphic, lanceolate, ciliate. Microspores 40-45 x 40 mm. Megaspores 300-350 x 400 mm. orange brown, reticulate.
    Growing on rocks in grasslands and dry deciduous forests
    (Attributions- K. P. Rajesh from India Biodiversity Portal)
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    AKJAN03 Please help in identifying this Selaginella sp. : 4 posts by 2 authors. No images seen now.

    It grows on exposed rocky slopes in full sun where there is no soil.
    From Siddarabetta, near Bangalore.
    It was completely dry when I collected a small piece.
    After bringing it home, i immersed it in water and in three hours it seems to have revived completely.

    It is probably S. wightii – but I have to confess I never yet troubled to learn the difference between S. wightii and S. indica (longipila) both of which are in S. India – could you just check out the difference in case it is indica? It can only be one of those two very similar species.

     

     

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    References:
    POWO  Selaginella wightii Hieron a New record for India (1996)  Tropicos  India Biodiversity Portal  Flora of Eastern Karnataka, Volume 2 By N. P. Singh (1988)