Did you guess what the native plant was based on my clues last week? Isn't learning just great? This week's contribution to Wildflower/Native Wednesday is Lycopodium digitatum or complanatum, aka Running Cedar, Southern Running Cedar or Pine, and also Christmas Green. Congrats if you guessed it correctly!
I have a wonderful natural area where I try to walk each week. The total walk is about 4.5 miles; which takes me a long time to walk (don't ask how long). On these walks nature usually calls. Finding a convenient spot is not difficult and due to my Army days I am not averse to taking care of nature in the wild-I always come prepared. Anyhow, on one of my side jaunts I found this wonderful groundcover. Can you see all the green in the above picture? Wowser! What can it be? This spot of green in the dead of winter?
Let's move in for a closer look. Isn't it wonderful? Don't you just want to touch it. I did and I also knew I had to know what it was. This lycopodium is growing in full shade! Okay, so maybe some sun comes through the deciduous trees but there is also another stand of the lycopodium in this natural area that is growing under cedar trees. No sun will ever reach it there. Anything that grows in full shade is a good thing for me and gets my attention. Now to identify the plant.
I came home from my walk really anxious to try to identify this plant. I knew it smelled like an Eastern red cedar and it was also scaly like red cedars. It grew all along the ground so I figured it was a ground cover. I searched the web and all my garden books for an evergreen groundcover that smells and looks like a juniper-something to that effect. No luck. Evergreen groundcover Google searches come up with such things as pachysandra, liriope, the dreaded vinca and others. I knew my plant was none of these. I grew a bit frustrated but then I remembered I had seen this plant on a blog at some point. I did not know which blog but knew it was either Les at a Tidewater Gardener or How it Grows. Both bloggers are located in Virginia. Considering how many blogs I read I was very happy I could narrow it down to just these two bloggers. I immediately emailed them both. Both were nice enough to respond to me with an identification (this was back in December while I was on break). I was so happy to learn the identity of this groundcover! Les also sent me a link to his post that mentioned Running Cedar. Thanks guys! I very much appreciate your help! You see how we learn from blogging and from one another? This is one very important reason I blog-to learn.
Now for a bit more learning and research into this plant. When I Google 'running cedar' or lycopodium I find the results to be rather disappointing. There are a few results-mainly the websites have some pictures and do identify it but they don't give much information on the plant. I'd like to know a bit about the plant like its history and uses. I was able to find a listing in my Southern Living Garden Book! Kudos to Southern Living! The entry is very light on information concerning lycopodium but at least it was listed. Dirr's Manual of Woody Landscape Plants does not mention lycopodium at all. I also can't seem to find lycopodium in other books but I'm still looking. I am not sure if Lycopodium digitatum and complanatum are the same thing or not but they look to be the same on the websites I found listing them. I did find one website that said the old name was complanatum but that it is now digitatum but I'm not sure if it is a regional difference or not. Scientist I am not so I will stick with lycopodium, aka running cedar for this lovely groundcover.
One thing I am sure of is that this running cedar is in the Lycopodiaceae family. This family is known as a club moss family. Club mosses are fern allies. Fern allies grow in the same conditions as ferns but are not true ferns botanically speaking even though they reproduce by spores-they do not flower or grow seeds (this lycopodium also spreads by runners). Do you remember my post last spring about spike moss? Spike moss is in the family Selaginella and is also a fern ally. I find fern allies a fascinating group of plants and would like to grow them here in my garden. If you know more about running cedar or fern allies please weigh in on the issue so we can all learn. Thanks.
Be sure to visit Gail at Clay and Limestone for more Wildflower Wednesday posts....
in the garden....
Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team,
In the Garden
Back in March when I attended the Nashville Lawn and Garden Show I purchased a sweet little plant called spike moss. This was the not the first time I had purchased this plant though. I bought it two years ago for my woodland garden. It lasted quite a long time but finally died out. Not to be dissuaded from this neat little plant I figured I'd give it another try. Hey, two times is the charm right?
I don't know much about the spike moss but thought I'd share a picture with you and what little I do know of it. Rose had asked for me to share it at some point when I posted about my purchases back in March, so here you go Rose.
If you look at it closely it resembles an evergreen. It is really quite a beautiful little ground cover. My Southern Living Garden Book categorizes this moss as a 'moss like ground cover'. It is in the same group as mosses commonly called Irish, Club, and Scotch moss (Selaginella kraussiana-not the Sagina subulata but a different kind of Irish and Scotch moss). Who knew there were so many different kinds of non mosses? I believe my variety of spike moss is either Selaginella apoda (Meadow spike moss), but I cannot be sure since the only label that came with it said 'spike moss'. Please don't hold me to this Latin identification. If you know for sure what type it is, do let me know. All I am sure of is that it is in the Selaginella family.
Spike moss is not actually a moss but it does reproduce in the same way (by shedding spores). I think the distinction between true mosses and the spike moss is the fact that true mosses do not have a vascular system and the spike moss does have a vascular system. Spike moss can be found growing in the same habitat as both mosses and ferns; hence it is considered a fern ally. A good thing since my yard is just about perfect for mosses and ferns.
I planted my new specimen in a different spot than the I did the first time around hoping that will be the ticket to its long term survival. The nursery woman said all it needs to grow well is a moist soil. I have just the site for it too. On the north side of my deck where no sun ever shines there is a moist area where astilbes, hostas, ligularias, pulmonarias, and camelias grow.... Oh sorry, thinking of where the deer and the buffalo roam. The spike moss is doing great!
This moss started life in a four inch pot and is now at least 12" in diameter. It is full and lush and I've not had to add any additional water to it (even before all the great rains came). It makes a super good companion for the white astilbe in this location as the spike moss grows around the astilbe's feet while blocking all weeds and providing a great foil for the astilbe.
An interesting tidbit about selaginellas (courtesy of Wiki) says that many selaginellas are known as resurrection plants in the desert. They curl up in times of no rain then plump up and turn green when moisture is plentiful.
That is all I know about spike moss and now you all know too. Ever heard of it before? Or know that Irish and Scotch mosses are not actually mosses at all?
in the garden....
