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Selaginella

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Selaginella at the Barbican by Stephan Czeladzinski
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National Collections Selaginella martensii Plants in the Selaginella collection at the Barbican have
no flowers and are not particularly gardenesque, but for
(Edward Step's Favourite
Demeter
Flowers from Garden andlovers of the unusual and unloved, they are ideal. I first
Membership Greenhouse) took to Selaginella, nine years ago, when I worked at
Nancy Botanic Garden in France. I had never seen them
Support our work
grown so well, and they proved an instant hit with me. With adequate humidity and
Area groups reasonably high temperatures they are easily grown.
Botany
The plants have been around for over 320 million years, older than most
Events collections! Through periods of extinction they have lost much of their diversity.
Merchandise They are no longer trees or shrubs, they no longer dominate the world flora, and
for the most part have been reduced to the herb layers of forest and the alpine
Contact us conditions of boulders and crevices in xerophytic areas. All the same they have a
Links shy charm in the flora of today and make delicate looking foliage plants.

There are over 750 species of selaginella, distributed around the world, mainly in
Press releases
the tropics. Selaginella is currently the only genus in the fern ally family
Site updates Selaginellaceae. The Collection at the Barbican holds about 75 species, 14 of which
are fully frost hardy.
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Home Morphology
They are evergreen with scale-like leaves, giving the appearance of moss (they are
also known as club mosses). At first glance, there are two obvious groups within
the genus - those with all leaves the same (isophyllous) and those with two types
of leaves (anisophyllous). A feature that defines the groupings further is the
strobilus (cone, often at the tips); leaves on the strobilus (called sporophyll) hold
the sporangia, which contain the spores. There are male and female sporophylls.
The male are called microsporophylls with microsporangia, while the female are
called megasporophylls holding megasporangia. The sporophylls can be isophyllous
or anisophyllous.

Variation
The species do look much alike, but with 750 to choose from, it is not hard to see a
myriad of habits and colours. There are about 150 species from colder regions'
mountains in the tropics to alpine tundra. There is even one that is native to these
isles, Selaginella selaginoides (L.) Link. It grows in mountainous heath and
moorland in Wales, northern England and Scotland.

For the glasshouse owner these plants are perfect for the shady spots that most
plants will not tolerate; for the windowsill grower there are the Selaginella
martensii varieties and forms, and the S. kraussiana varieties. For the alpine
enthusiast there is an even greater choice, and they do not grow as fast as rumour
suggests. Some, such as S. tamariscina, a rosette-forming species, are not only
slow growing, but can live for over a century. The Japanese grow over 250 cultivars
of S. tamariscina, known to them as Iwahiba.

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Selaginellas do have some very interesting habits apart from the often seen
creeping ones like S. kraussiana, S. martensii and S. denticulata. There are four
annual species - S. tenerrima, S. tuberosa, S. pygmaea and S. gracillima. There
are rosette-forming species with short rhizomes and short internodes, for example,
S. pallescens, S. lepidophylla and S. tamariscina; and upright rhizomes which bud
out from the base of the plant once the strobili are produced, for example, S.
denticulata and S. gigantea, to 4m tall (13ft).

The genus contains semi-climbers, perhaps better described as a rambling habit,

whereby the rhizophores formed are quite tough and are able to insert themselves
vertically into other vegetation. One of these is S. willdenovii. There are short,
erect, tufted species, looking more like robust giant mosses, which include our only
native species, S. selaginoides, and those with creeping rhizomes and erect
secondary branches forming parasols, for example S. vogelii, S. haematodes and S.
erythropus.

Selaginella has perhaps a greater diversity of habit and pigmentation than any
other fern or fern related genus. There is a choice of blue iridescence - S. uncinata,
S. willdenovii and to a lesser extent S. vogelii and S. lyallii: red - erythropus (a
form from Cali in Colombia): variegation - S. martensii f. albovariegata, S.
martensii var. watsonii (considered under f. albovariegata, but different variegation
patterns), S. kraussiana var. variegata and Iwahiba (S. tamariscina) cultivars from
Japan: golden - S. kraussiana var. aurea, pretty hard to beat for its yellow mat-
forming habit and tolerance: silver - S. viticulosa which is light green on top but a
healthy plant is very silvery underneath.

Cultivation
Contrary to popular belief, selaginellas are quite undemanding if at least the
following two conditions are fulfilled. First, relatively high and constant humidity
above 80%, and second the temperature needs to be high for most tropical
species, a range of 15-21ºC. is required. If the humidity is kept high enough then it
will not be too detrimental if the temperature drops or rises a little. They can
endure periods of low temperature for up to a couple of weeks, after which rotting
is likely. This has been tested with a breakdown in the heating system at the
Barbican; all species survived at about 7-8° C. for three weeks but partial rotting
had occurred on some and resultant growth from February onwards was very poor
and slow.

Most selaginellas are terrestrials in forests and so are best grown on north or
northeast-facing situations. Full sun can be endured by only a few species. In
general the variegated and golden forms do best with more sunlight, but direct and
constant sunlight often scorches the plants after only a few minutes, causing
shrivelling and death. Plants should be placed in a lighter spot gradually over a few
weeks.

Dappled shade is fine but beware of scorching. Strong sunlight can cause
fluctuations in relative humidity. In general, the ideal situation for selaginellas is
under a glasshouse bench or in the shade of other plants.

Containerised plants

Traditionally, plants requiring a high relative humidity were grown under bell jars,
otherwise known as cloches. Wardian cases were used at the end of the nineteenth
century and the beginning of the twentieth century. Recently terrariums have been
used to grow humidity-demanding plants easily.

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Central heating (or heating in glasshouses) lowers the humidity too far for many
plants, but this is easy to remedy in a glasshouse although demands labour and
water. So why not grow plants in their own environment within your home, garden
or greenhouse?

Using a plastic bottle is cheap, can be unsightly, but labour-saving and practical.
The restriction of plants to these containers does unfortunately limit height and
spread, but above all it keeps out pests (if in a glasshouse) and stops plants from
growing into each other. Plants in plastic bottle containers must also be kept out of
sunlight as they can overheat and then the plants within will rot. In a glasshouse,
pots of similar species grown near each other tend to root into each other, leaving
two or more plants in a pot with only one label! This has been one of the reasons
for many selaginellas in cultivation having the wrong names attached to them. I
have found that two 5-litre bottles are large enough for most selaginellas. Ferns
also grow well in these conditions, for example, young Marattia, Angiopteris,
Lecanopteris, Huperzia and also Trichomanes, Hymenophyllum, Adiantum and
Asplenium.

Composts
Selaginella is tolerant of most soil types, with the exception of heavy clay. Most will
grow in a neutral compost, with few exceptions such as S. helvetica, which requires
a lower pH of about 5.5.

In a glasshouse, coir, peat, fine pine bark and in Selaginella perelegans from
smaller quantities sand loam and charcoal (which helps Nicholson's Illustrated
to absorb toxins and can help to inhibit soil pathogens) Dictionary of Gardening
can all be included in the potting mixture. I have had Vol 3 1887
good results with just pure coir, or 2/3 coir to 1/3 fine
bark. Selaginella grown in the open glasshouse will require much more watering,
often daily if a loose potting mix is chosen.

Both terracotta and plastic pots are suitable. In plastic bottle containers or
propagators, plastic pots are best, as terracotta quickly becomes slimy with algal
growth. Plants can grow very rapidly during the summer when in a good situation,
but they grow all the year round and winter growth can be quite significant even
under our low winter light levels. Potting can be done at any time between the end
of January and the beginning of October without detriment to the plant.

Pests
In the garden and glasshouse Selaginella can suffer from slug and snail attack,
though out in the garden most species can become quite toughened to snail
damage. The other pest that I have seen on my collection is scale insect on S.
vogelii; it is awkward to remove. Selaginellas do not like to be sprayed with any
pesticides, even organic remedies. They have very thin cuticles and can shrivel
quickly in response. A fungus called Uredo vetus, which is a rust from China, has
been discovered on Selaginella sp in the wild, but it is not known in collections.

In the garden
Outside in the garden, the best positions are either in terracotta pots plunged in
sand or bark to maintain humidity, or planted in a rockery. They can become
swamped by weeds germinating within them, and these should be pulled out by
tweezers. An ideal plant for the alpine enthusiast, S. kraussiana can be planted in a
small area as a lawn substitute, but it will not tolerate frequent trampling. It can
set spores and become invasive. I know of no other selaginella that will set spores,
reproducing sexually (ex vitro) in cultivation.

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Propagation
With rapidly growing plants, lots of cuttings can be taken to start off the stock in a
suitably sized pot. For some species, such as diffuse, stenophylla, kraussiana and
unc/nata, this has to be done up to three times a year. Propagation is best done
either by division of a clump of a potted plant or by taking tip cuttings (2cm+) from
any part of the plant that bears or produces rhizophores. Propagation is best done
from February to April; plants start new growth early, just as last year's growth
begins to die back, but they can be propagated at any time of the year with varying
degrees of success.

Selaginella species of an upright habit usually cone during winter. Once the cones
have been produced and new growth begins, the whole upright coning branch will
begin to die back a few weeks later. At this time, usually late winter, the new
growth emerges from the prostrate primary stem or rhizome.
The collection in the Barbican has been growing for ten years now and new species
are hard to come by. Over 50% were wrongly named in botanic gardens and
collecting trips are all too rare, most botanists would not even bother with them
anyway.

Species that are available from nurseries are listed in the RHS Plant Finder. The
most commonly sold are Selaginella martensii (forms and varieties) and S.
kraussiana (varieties). There are others available, but many have been lost from
cultivation, compared to those available a century ago.
I would like to thank Erika, Marek and Stephan Czeladzinski, Amelia Sercerbegovic,
Chad Husby, David Newbould, Gerald Goddard, Georgina Galliers, and Blandine
Chenard for their help.

The National Plant Collection is held at the Barbican Conservatory, Barbican Centre,
Silk Street, London. Nearest Tube stations are Barbican and Moorgate. Open only
by appointment, please phone 0207 638 6114.

Article reproduced from Plant Heritage Volume 10 No.2 Autumn 2003

Selaginella National Collection Details

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