If you have never seen the Clubmosses before you could be forgiven for thinking they are genuine mosses and not vascular plants. This one is not always easy to see and can be found in rocky crevices in hills or amongst the grasses just as proper mosses would. The roundish yellow blobs in the leaf axils are spore cases which become more obvious in late summer when the leaves themselves can turn brown or yellowish. The leaves are broader than Huperzia selago (Fir Clubmoss) and have little hairs protruding from the edges.

Selaginella selaginoides has a distinctly northern distribution in the British Isles being very common in Scotland, northern Ireland, northern England and the mountains of Snowdonia but absent from mid and southern England

Selaginella selaginoides Lesser Clubmoss Newborough Warren, Anglesey, 12th July 2011 Previous   Next

Selaginella selaginoides Lesser Clubmoss

Cwm Idwal, Snowdonia, 7th June 2005

Added on 1st December 2011, updated 13th July 2015