 |
A vigorous form with pale tips to the growth. Sometimes it looks golden, and sometimes if drifts into colourlessness as though it has been faded by the sun.
'Gold Tips' is a magnificent idea if you are a croupier at a casino in Monte Carlo but it lacks exotic sparkle when applied to a spikemoss. Selaginella had a brief moment in the commercial sunlight before customers discovered how specific their needs were. I bought mine at a local garden centre and the label proclaimed rather optimistically: "This beautiful Spikemoss with bright green foliage and gold ends to the shoots, will form excellent ground cover given a moist soil, but not too wet in winter, in semi-shade." The BSBI Plant Atlas 2020 says: A perennial, moss-like herb which grows in woodland and moist, shaded grassland. It is naturalized in gardens, churchyards and damp valleys near the sea. At Landewednack (West Cornwall), a population first recorded in 1922 was badly hit by summer drought in 1975 and 1976, but recovered slowly thereafter. Lowland. S. kraussiana was introduced to cultivation in Britain by 1867 and is often an abundant weed in the shady corners of greenhouses. It was first recorded as a lawn weed at Bodorgan (Anglesey) in 1882. It has spread noticeably since it was first mapped by Jermy et al. (1978)." |
|
| 7th May 2006 | ||
