Lycopodioides picta (A. Braun ex Baker) Kuntze; Selaginella hypopterygia A. Braun ex Warburg; S. picta f. viridis Alston.

Plants terrestrial, evergreen, erect, suberect, or ascending from decumbent base, 35-55(-85) cm, without creeping rhizomes or stolons. Rhizophores restricted to lower part of stem. Main stems branched from near base or from lower part upward, pinnately branched, pale green or stramineous, unbranched main stem 3-5 cm tall, 2.5-5 mm in diam. in lower part; stem oval or terete, sulcate, glabrous, apex of main stem blackish (basal part of branches also blackish); primary leafy branches 4-6 pairs, once pinnately branched, secondary branches not forked or basal branch once or twice forked, tertiary branches simple; branchlets dense, regular; adjacent primary branches on main stem 3-5 cm apart, ultimate branches 4.5-5.5 mm wide including leaves. Axillary leaves on main stems obviously larger than those on branches, oblong-ovate, 5-6.5 × 2-3 mm, base subcordate; axillary leaves on branches symmetrical, ovate-lanceolate, 2-3.8 × 0.6-1.6 mm, base slightly cordate, margin entire. Dorsal leaves on branches contiguous, overlapping at leaf apex, obliquely oblong, 1.2-2.5 × 0.5-1.4 mm, not carinate, base oblique, slightly subcordate, margin entire, apex acuminate or caudate. Ventral leaves on branches slightly ascending, contiguous, falcate, 3-6 × 1-2.4 mm, apex subacute; basiscopic base slightly dilated, margin entire; acroscopic base not enlarged, margin entire. Strobili solitary or in pairs, terminal, compact, tetragonal, 5-35 × 1-3 mm; sporophylls uniform, white-margined, ovate-triangular, sharply carinate, margin entire, apex acuminate; megasporophylls in basal portion on lower side of strobilus, or in middle on lower side; microsporangia transversely elliptic, relatively thick, marginal cells differentiated, longer; microspores light pale yellow, megaspores brown.

Dense forests; 400-1000(-1800) m. Guangxi, Hainan, Jiangxi, Xizang, Yunnan [Cambodia, India (Assam), Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam].