Selaginella eclipes

Hidden spikemoss

Selaginella eclipes (hidden spikemoss) is a small creeping spikemoss of the Great Lakes and central-eastern North America, easily overlooked among mosses and sedges. It grows in wet, often calcareous meadows, fens, seeps and shores, and is fully winter-hardy with a cold dormancy under snow. It suits a bog garden or cold terrarium, not a warm tropical tank.

At home, aim for

Day 16–26 °C (61–79 °F)

Night 8–18 °C (46–64 °F)

Humidity 70–90%

Light 10–18 DLI220–400 µmol·m⁻²·s⁻¹ PPFD

Expects a seasonal restGrows in the ground

Where it grows wild

Forms thin creeping mats on wet, often calcareous soils in fens, wet meadows, seepage slopes and lake and river shores, usually among grasses, sedges and mosses. This is from general knowledge of the species; the source opened this round gave only its habit (herb).

1–820 m, median 200 m (30 records): lowland wetlands.

OntarioQuébecNew YorkConnecticutMichiganOhioIndianaIllinoisWisconsinIowaMissouriKentuckyArkansasOklahoma

Species of the day

The full profile, open to everyone today

Every profile reads like this inside Plantistry. Tomorrow another species takes its turn.

Temperature

Cool summers, a real winter. Outdoors, hardy to about USDA zone 4; indoors, give a 3–4 month cold dormancy near 0–5 °C.

Humidity

Open-air bog garden, or a ventilated tub; avoid stagnant, hot, closed terrariums.

Light

Bright but not scorching: partial sun outdoors, or a strong LED.

Water and seasons

Keep the soil wet all year. Let it go dormant cold in winter; do not keep it warm. Cold winter dormancy (roughly November–March).

Substrate and airflow

Mix of sand, sphagnum/fen peat and some limestone grit, kept saturated; open airflow.

Setting it up

Bog pot outdoors Grow it in a shallow tray with a saturated sand–peat–limestone grit mix, sunk in a bog garden or stood in water.
Partial sun Give 10–18 mol/m²/day, about 220–400 µmol/m²/s: morning sun or light shade.
Cool temperatures Keep summer days at 16–26 °C with nights at 8–18 °C.
Winter cold Give it 3–4 months near or below freezing, outdoors or in a fridge or cold frame.
Always wet Keep the medium saturated; use rainwater if the mix lacks lime buffering, or add limestone.

Keep profiles like this open. A free garden opens the full profile for every plant you grow; Pro opens all 38,374.

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 4.0 licence, unmodified.