Selaginella spinulosaA.Braun ex Döll

club spikemoss

WFO wfo-0001116467 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Selaginella spinulosa, photographed by Jason Grant
fig. a Jason Grant, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-09-10 / obs. 156475376
Selaginella spinulosa, photographed by Alan Weakley
fig. b Alan Weakley, CC0 1.0 / obs. 149812975
Selaginella spinulosa, photographed by Ellyne Geurts
fig. c Ellyne Geurts, CC0 1.0 / obs. 165278604
Selaginella spinulosa, photographed by Ellyne Geurts
fig. d Ellyne Geurts, CC0 1.0 / obs. 165251678
Selaginella spinulosa, photographed by Erin Springinotic
fig. e Erin Springinotic, CC0 1.0 / obs. 161534680
Selaginella spinulosa, photographed by Ellyne Geurts
fig. f Ellyne Geurts, CC0 1.0 / obs. 164873914
Selaginella spinulosa, photographed by Ellyne Geurts
fig. g Ellyne Geurts, CC0 1.0 / obs. 164873872
Selaginella spinulosa, photographed by Ellyne Geurts
fig. h Ellyne Geurts, CC0 1.0 / obs. 164825921

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.

The specimen a real sheet, in a real collection

Herbarium
The New York Botanical Garden
Accession
3864712
Filed as
Selaginella spinulosa A.Braun
Det. by
not recorded on this sheet
Collected
not recorded
Origin
not recorded
The sheet
View the digitised specimen (CC BY 4.0)

A real pressed plant, in a real collection, under the accession number above. Not an illustration of one. The holding institution does not serve this sheet’s image to third parties, so there is no photograph here. The record is real and the link goes to it. Where we hold no openly licensed sheet for a species this section is simply absent, and where a sheet never recorded who determined it, that field stays empty rather than being filled in. Roughly half of all herbarium sheets never recorded a determiner, which is ordinary.

Native range 62 botanical countries

Regions where Selaginella spinulosa is native: Canary Is., Buryatiya, Irkutsk, Japan, Kamchatka, Krasnoyarsk, Kuril Is., North Caucasus, Transcaucasus, Tuva, West Siberia, Yakutiya, Albania, Austria, Baltic States, Bulgaria, Central European Russia, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, East European Russia, Finland, Føroyar, France, Germany, Great Britain, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, North European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, Alaska, Alberta, British Columbia, Colorado, Greenland, Idaho, Labrador, Maine, Manitoba, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward I., Québec, Saskatchewan, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Yukon BuryatiyaIrkutskJapanKamchatkaKrasnoyarskNorth CaucasusTranscaucasusTuvaWest SiberiaYakutiyaAlbaniaAustriaBaltic StatesBulgariaCentral European RussiaCzechia-SlovakiaDenmarkEast European RussiaFinlandFranceGermanyIcelandIrelandItalyNorth European RussiaNorthwest European RussiaNorwayNW. Balkan Pen.PolandRomaniaSpainSwedenSwitzerlandUkraineAlaskaAlbertaBritish ColumbiaColoradoGreenlandIdahoLabradorMaineManitobaMichiganMinnesotaMontanaNevadaNew BrunswickNewfoundlandNorthwest TerritoriesNova ScotiaOntarioPrince Edward I.QuébecSaskatchewanWisconsinWyomingYukon Canary Is.Føroyar
Native distribution of Selaginella spinulosa, 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. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Albania ALB EUROPE
Austria AUT
Baltic States BLT
Bulgaria BUL
Central European Russia RUC
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
Denmark DEN
East European Russia RUE
Finland FIN
Føroyar FOR
France FRA
Germany GER
Great Britain GRB
Iceland ICE
Ireland IRE
Italy ITA
North European Russia RUN
Northwest European Russia RUW
Norway NOR
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
Romania ROM
Spain SPA
Sweden SWE
Switzerland SWI
Ukraine UKR
Alaska ASK NORTHERN AMERICA
Alberta ABT
British Columbia BRC
Colorado COL
Greenland GNL
Idaho IDA
Labrador LAB
Maine MAI
Manitoba MAN
Michigan MIC
Minnesota MIN
Montana MNT
Nevada NEV
New Brunswick NBR
Newfoundland NFL
Northwest Territories NWT
Nova Scotia NSC
Ontario ONT
Prince Edward I. PEI
Québec QUE
Saskatchewan SAS
Wisconsin WIS
Wyoming WYO
Yukon YUK
Buryatiya BRY ASIA-TEMPERATE
Irkutsk IRK
Japan JAP
Kamchatka KAM
Krasnoyarsk KRA
Kuril Is. KUR
North Caucasus NCS
Transcaucasus TCS
Tuva TVA
West Siberia WSB
Yakutiya YAK
Canary Is. CNY AFRICA

Not drawn on the map: Kuril Is., Great Britain. We hold no public-domain boundary for these regions, so they are listed rather than guessed at.

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.

Where it actually grows measured, from 1,989 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -19.8 °C -11.4 °C 1.7 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 12.6 °C 16.0 °C 21.4 °C
Annual rainfall 677 mm 1,543 mm 3,614 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 90 mm 253 mm 499 mm

It is found where winters are severely cold. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 1,989 research-grade observations of Selaginella spinulosa that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.

Also published as 36 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.

  • Bernhardia spinosa Gray
  • Lycopodina spinulosa (A.Braun ex Döll) Bubani
  • Lycopodioides selaginoides (L.) Kuntze
  • Lycopodium bryophyllum C.Presl
  • Lycopodium ciliatum Lam.
  • Lycopodium selaginoides L.
  • Selaginella ciliata Opiz
  • Selaginella selaginoides (L.) P.Beauv. ex Schrank & Mart.
  • Selaginella spinosa P.Beauv.
  • Selaginella spinosa monstr.furcata Luerss.
  • Selaginella spinosa subsp. bahusiensis Gand.
  • Selaginella spinosa subsp. borealis Gand.
  • Selaginella spinosa subsp. bothnica Gand.
  • Selaginella spinosa subsp. delphinensis Gand.
  • Selaginella spinosa subsp. earthusiana Gand.
  • Selaginella spinosa subsp. frigida Gand.
  • Selaginella spinosa subsp. glacialis Gand.
  • Selaginella spinosa subsp. herjedaliensis Gand.
  • Selaginella spinosa subsp. hibernica Gand.
  • Selaginella spinosa subsp. imbricaria Gand.
  • Selaginella spinosa subsp. jugicola Gand.
  • Selaginella spinosa subsp. litigiosa Gand.
  • Selaginella spinosa subsp. ludibunda Gand.
  • Selaginella spinosa subsp. mediana Gand.

and 12 more.

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. USDA PLANTS Database. common name, checklist symbol SESE. public domain. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. 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.