Blue Spikemoss

Description

Selaginella uncinata, the blue spikemoss, peacock moss, peacock spikemoss, or spring blue spikemoss, is a species of plant in the Selaginellaceae family. It is widely cultivated outdoors along the Gulf Coast of the United States and in greenhouses and nurseries. It is a native of southern China and is closely allied to Selaginella delicatula (Desvaux ex Poiret) Alston, also in part from China. Plants terrestrial, forming diffuse mats. Stems long-creeping, branched, branches 3-forked, flat, not articulate, glabrous. Rhizophores axillary, mostly at stem base or apex, 0.3--0.4 mm diam. Leaves delicate, papery. Lateral leaves distant, iridescent, green to blue-green, ovate-oblong, 3--4.2 X 1.5--2.5 mm; basiscopic base with small auricle, acroscopic base overlapping stem; margins conspicuously transparent, entire; apex acute to obtuse. Median leaves ovate-lanceolate, 2.2--3.5 X 1.2--1.8 mm; base with outer auricle; margins transparent, entire; apex acuminate. Strobili solitary, 0.5--1.5 cm; sporophylls monomorphic, lanceolate to narrowly ovate-lanceolate, strongly tapering toward apex, keeled, keel not dentate, base glabrous, margins transparent, entire, apex long-acuminate. 2 n = 18.