Selaginella tortipila
A small, grey-green, mat-forming spikemoss of exposed granite and granite-gneiss outcrops in the southern Appalachians and Piedmont. It lives with sun, thin soil and repeated drying, and has cold winters, so it is not a tropical terrarium Selaginella. It is best grown in a bright, airy rock trough or an open alpine-style setup with a cold winter.
Where it grows wild
Forms dense cushions on bare or thinly soiled granite and gneiss outcrops, where temperatures swing widely and water and nutrients are scarce. On dry, exposed rock the stems grow short and erect; in shadier, moister spots they spread flat.
Mostly about 450–1,370 m (1,500–4,500 ft). Recorded elevations run from 425 to 1,554 m with a median of 1,122 m.
🔒 Growing it like that
The wild conditions above, turned into targets for a shelf, a tent or a greenhouse. The full profile has:
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Profiles are drafts built from measured range and climate and from published sources; each section carries its own confidence in the app.