Sign in Start free
Species library › Selaginella › Selaginella arthritica
Terrarium Partly documented

Selaginella arthritica

Selaginella arthritica is a common spikemoss of wet lowland forest from Nicaragua to Ecuador, with hundreds of records mostly below about 600 m. It is a warm, shade-loving forest-floor plant that needs constant moisture and high humidity.

Selaginella arthritica
Photo: Franz Xaver, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
At home, aim for
Day Warm-growingTargets in Plantistry
Night Close to the dayTargets in Plantistry
Humidity Very humid airBand in Plantistry
Light Deep shadeDLI and PPFD in Plantistry
No rest periodGrows in the ground

Where it grows wild

Wet lowland rainforest floor and shaded banks, especially on the Caribbean slope of Central America, based on the distribution of records.

Recorded from 2 to 2122 m (median 200 m, 568 records); most records are below 600 m.

ColombiaCosta RicaEcuadorNicaraguaPanamá

🔒 Growing it like that

The wild conditions above, turned into targets for a shelf, a tent or a greenhouse. The full profile has:

✓ Day and night temperature targets, and the limits it tolerates
✓ Humidity band, and how to hold it
✓ Light as DLI and PPFD for a grow light
✓ Wet and dry seasons, and whether to rest it
✓ Substrate and airflow
✓ A step-by-step setup to grow it like the wild

Grow Selaginella arthritica? Add it to a free garden and its full profile opens. Pro opens all 38,374 profiles in the library, plants and fungi.

Start free Sign in

More Selaginella

Selaginella apoda Selaginella lepidophylla Selaginella tortipila Selaginella ciliaris Selaginella moellendorffii Selaginella deflexa Selaginella kraussiana Selaginella selaginoides Selaginella stellata Selaginella uliginosa Selaginella australiensis Selaginella brisbanensis All 765 →

Profiles are drafts built from measured range and climate and from published sources; each section carries its own confidence in the app. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, used under its CC BY-SA 3.0 licence, unmodified.