Trailing Selaginella, Mat Selaginella

Selaginella kraussiana (Kunze) A. Braun, Index Seminum (Berlin). App. 22. 1860.

sell-aj-eh-NEL-ah krauss-ee-AY-nah

Selaginellaceae

Explanation of name: Generic name from Selago, an ancient name for Lycopodium, a genus resembling Selaginella, and Latin, -ella, diminutive suffix (FNA).  Species presumably named for Christian Ferdinand Friedrich Krauss 1812 - 1890 who was a German scientist, traveler. and collector [active in south Africa] (Wikipedia).

Natural range: Africa

Recognition:  Creeping, sprawling, mat-forming plant.  Each branchlet flattened, with tiny one-veined lance-ovate leaves in a single plane.  Color green, or yellow-green in ‘Aurea’.

Landscape uses: Use as a moisture-loving, shade-loving fernlike plant.  Containers, baskets,  ground-cover in moist shaded places, terrariums. Propagate with cuttings or divisions. Has weedy tendencies and has escaped cultivation in Georgia and probably farther south (FNA).

Internet sources:  http://www.plantoftheweek.org/week143.shtml

http://www.desert-tropicals.com/Plants/Selaginellaceae/Selaginella_kraussiana.html

http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=200002794

http://ip30.eti.uva.nl/BIS/flora.php?menuentry=soorten&id=1452