Botanical name:

Phlegmariurus billardierei

Common name(s):

Hanging clubmoss

About:

P. billardierei is usually found as a pendent epiphytic species, gracefully hanging from the branches of trees, but it occasionally grows terrestrially on moist banks, on rock overhangs, or even nestled within rock crevices. The stem of this fascinating plant divides dichotomously into two branches that maintain equal thickness, and it produces a basal tuft of roots that anchor it securely in its environment.

Natural habitat:

Coastal, lowland to montane forest (generally uncommon in montane forest). Usually epiphytic, occasionally terrestrial - and then often on cliff faces or on boulder field.

Growing environment:

Sun, Shade, Coastal & Free draining tolerant.

Endemic distribution:

New Zealand’s Kermadec and Three Kings Islands, and in coastal and lowland areas throughout the North Island from Te Paki south, extending locally into montane regions, but is uncommon in the central North Island. It grows from near sea level to almost 1000m at Lake Waikaremoana and on Mt Taranaki. In the South Island it is largely confined to coastal and lowland areas of Marlborough, Nelson and Westland, with very scattered populations south of Ōkārito in Fiordland, the Catlins District, and on Stewart Island. The species grows from sea level, up to 760 m near Tākaka, and extends also to the Chatham Islands.

Height:

Flowering: 

N/A Spore producing.

Fruiting: N/A

Uses:

Forests

How to grow:

Grown from fresh spore.