The open plant encyclopedia
Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.
The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.
Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.
Selaginella deflexa
Deflexed spikemoss is a small, non-flowering fern ally from Hawai'i, growing 10 to 25 cm tall with downward-bent leaves. It is a species, not a genus, and is rarely grown, mainly by specialist collectors; it needs cool, very humid, wet conditions.
Selaginella deflexa, commonly known as deflexed spikemoss, is a non-flowering species of plant in the spikemoss genus Selaginella and is in the subgenus of the same name. It is closely related to Selaginella selaginoides which is the only other member in its subgenus. This subgenus is unique in that it lacks the rhizophores typically seen along the stems of other Selaginella species. It is endemic to Hawaii and grows primarily in the wet tropical biome. This plant gets its name from its reflexed leaves which point outwards.
Selaginella deflexa is endemic to Hawai'i. Excluding Lānaʻi, S. deflexa is found across all of the Hawaiian Islands; however, its appearance on Oʻahu is rare. It typically grows within wetland bogs surrounded by moss, located between 1,050–1,500 m (3,440–4,920 ft) above sea level.
Meadow spikemoss · Sand spikemoss · Arizona spikemoss · Bluish spikemoss · Selaginella australiensis · Selaginella bifida · Selaginella biformis · Bushy spikemoss · Selaginella brisbanensis · Selaginella bryopteris · Selaginella carinata · Selaginella ciliaris
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Selaginella deflexa by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
