Selaginella sellowiiHieron.

WFO wfo-0001118095 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 3 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 3 times, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Selaginella sellowii, photographed by Jairo Pinto
fig. a Jairo Pinto, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-03-22 / obs. 117922801
Selaginella sellowii, photographed by Jairo Pinto
fig. b Jairo Pinto, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 117923016
Selaginella sellowii, photographed by Jairo Pinto
fig. c Jairo Pinto, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 117923328
Selaginella sellowii, photographed by Jairo Pinto
fig. d Jairo Pinto, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 117923266
Selaginella sellowii, photographed by Jairo Pinto
fig. e Jairo Pinto, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 117923168
Selaginella sellowii, photographed by Étienne Lacroix-Carignan
fig. f Étienne Lacroix-Carignan, CC0 1.0 / obs. 33336346
Selaginella sellowii, photographed by Andres Cavallo
fig. g Andres Cavallo, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 112182482
Selaginella sellowii, photographed by Andres Cavallo
fig. h Andres Cavallo, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 112182561

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 19 botanical countries

Regions where Selaginella sellowii is native: Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southwest, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Bolivia, Brazil Northeast, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela Mexico CentralMexico GulfMexico NortheastMexico NorthwestMexico SouthwestArgentina NortheastArgentina NorthwestBoliviaBrazil NortheastBrazil SouthBrazil SoutheastBrazil West-CentralColombiaCubaEcuadorParaguayPeruUruguayVenezuela
Native distribution of Selaginella sellowii, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Argentina Northeast AGE SOUTHERN AMERICA
Argentina Northwest AGW
Bolivia BOL
Brazil Northeast BZE
Brazil South BZS
Brazil Southeast BZL
Brazil West-Central BZC
Colombia CLM
Cuba CUB
Ecuador ECU
Paraguay PAR
Peru PER
Uruguay URU
Venezuela VEN
Mexico Central MXC NORTHERN AMERICA
Mexico Gulf MXG
Mexico Northeast MXE
Mexico Northwest MXN
Mexico Southwest MXS

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Also published as 11 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Bryodesma sellowii (Hieron.) Soják
  • Selaginella amazonica (Milde) Hieron.
  • Selaginella arachavaletae Hieron.
  • Selaginella mildei Hieron.
  • Selaginella montevidensis Hieron.
  • Selaginella pauciciliata Hieron.
  • Selaginella rupestris f. amazonica Milde
  • Selaginella rupestris f. brasiliensis Milde
  • Selaginella rupestris subvar. glaucina E.Fourn.
  • Selaginella rupestris var. brasiliensis (Milde) Hieron.
  • Selaginella rupestris var. brevipila A.Braun

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.