Selaginella willdenowii(Desv.) Baker

Willdenow's spikemoss

WFO wfo-0001109675 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Selaginella willdenowii, photographed by Utain Pummarin
fig. a Utain Pummarin, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-06-06 / obs. 203769528
Selaginella willdenowii, photographed by luluchouette
fig. b luluchouette, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 180111945
Selaginella willdenowii, photographed by Ong Jyh Seng
fig. c Ong Jyh Seng, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 173059252
Selaginella willdenowii, photographed by Daniel Cahen
fig. d Daniel Cahen, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 60860111
Selaginella willdenowii, photographed by Daniel Cahen
fig. e Daniel Cahen, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 60857288
Selaginella willdenowii, photographed by Ian Armitage
fig. f Ian Armitage, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 4788909
Selaginella willdenowii, photographed by Al Kordesch
fig. g Al Kordesch, CC0 1.0 / obs. 9022793
Selaginella willdenowii, photographed by garywwilson
fig. h garywwilson, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 110167720

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 14 botanical countries

Regions where Selaginella willdenowii is native: China South-Central, China Southeast, Andaman Is., Bangladesh, Cambodia, Jawa, Laos, Malaya, Myanmar, Philippines, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Thailand, Vietnam China South-CentralChina SoutheastBangladeshCambodiaJawaLaosMalayaMyanmarPhilippinesSulawesiSumateraThailandVietnam Andaman Is.
Native distribution of Selaginella willdenowii, 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
Andaman Is. AND ASIA-TROPICAL
Bangladesh BAN
Cambodia CBD
Jawa JAW
Laos LAO
Malaya MLY
Myanmar MYA
Philippines PHI
Sulawesi SUL
Sumatera SUM
Thailand THA
Vietnam VIE
China South-Central CHC ASIA-TEMPERATE
China Southeast CHS

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 19 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.

  • Didiclis willdenowii (Desv.) Li Bing Zhang & X.M.Zhou
  • Lycopodioides caespitosa (Blume) Kuntze
  • Lycopodioides willdenowii (Desv.) Kuntze
  • Lycopodium bicolor Warb.
  • Lycopodium caesium unranked arboreum Courtin
  • Lycopodium caespitosum Blume
  • Lycopodium laevigatum Willd.
  • Lycopodium willdenovii Desv. ex Poir.
  • Selaginella altissima Kaulf. ex Lauche
  • Selaginella arborea (Kunze) A.Braun
  • Selaginella arborea Dippel
  • Selaginella arborescens Russow
  • Selaginella caesia unranked arborea
  • Selaginella caespitosa (Blume) Spring
  • Selaginella denuana Alderw.
  • Selaginella laevigata (Willd.) Spring
  • Selaginella uncinata var. arborea (Kunze) Mett.
  • Selaginella willdenowii var. caesia-arborea (Hort.) Hieron. ex Bonap.
  • Selaginella willdenowii var. punctulata Alderw.

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. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. 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.