Selaginella molliceps Spring. var. major A.Braun ex Hieron.
Lycopodioides molliceps (Spring.) Kuntze
Stachygynandrum rubricaule (R.Sim) Carruth
Selaginella rubricaulis R.Sim var. angolensis A.Braun ex Kuhn
Selaginella rubricaulis Hort.

Plant suberect, up to 20 cm tall; stems sometimes reddish and fleshy in life but pale yellow when dry, branched from the base and bearing roots from the lower third. Leaves dimorphic, dark green and said to have metallic reflections ventrally; lateral leaves ovate-oblong in outline, apex pointed, base unequal, 2.5–3 x 1–1.3 mm; median leaves elliptic-lanceolate in outline, slightly curved, apex with a narrow bristle-like point 1/4–1/3 (–1/2) of the lamina, base subtruncate, margin minutely ciliate or toothed, 1.2–1.9 x 0.6–0.7 mm. Strobili ± 5 x 2.5 mm; sporophylls dimorphic, dorsal green, oblong, often rounded at apex, serrulate or finely ciliolate, carinate, the keel hyaline ciliolate, 1.3–1.4 x 0.8–0.9 mm; ventral hyaline, oblong-lanceolate, acuminate-aristate at the apex, ciliolate, 1–1.2 x 0.5–0.6 mm.

Escarpment rocks above Euphorbia zone; edges of ditches or epiphytes, in primary forest; ? swamp forest.

Africa, Comores, Principe, São Tomé.

Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Dem. Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea (incl. Bioko), Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Togo, Uganda.

Epiphytic, terrestrial.