Selaginella apoda

Meadow spikemoss
Conservation status
Secure  (NatureServe)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Lycophytes
Class:	Lycopodiopsida
Order:	Selaginellales
Family:	Selaginellaceae
Genus:	Selaginella
Species:	S. apoda
Binomial name
Selaginella apoda (L.) Spring[2]
Synonyms
Diplostachyum apodum (L.) P.Beauv. Lycopodioides apoda (L.) Kuntze Lycopodium albidulum Sw. Lycopodium apodum L. (basionym) Selaginella albidula (Sw.) Spring List sources :[3]

Selaginella apoda, commonly known as meadow spikemoss,^[4] is a perennial lycophyte native to much of the eastern United States and parts of northeastern Mexico. The life cycle is the shortest of the genus Selaginella, as well as one of the shortest among the lycophytes. Selaginella apoda is found primarily in damp soils in habitats such as swamps, wet fields, open woods and along stream banks. Selaginella apoda presents the potential for case studies involving the plant's adaptability to environmental toxins. A lowland plant, it has only been recorded at elevations below 100 meters. It is closely related to Selaginella eclipes and S. ludoviciana, with both of which it has been reported to form hybrids. This group is characterized by relatively flat strobili and large megasporophylls which occur in the same plane as the lateral leaves.^[5]

The plant was originally described, and named Lycopodium apodum by Carl Linnaeus in his Species Plantarum (1753).^[2]