On Thu, 24 Jan 2013 19:56:04 +0000, Lee Mac wrote:
and the nursery assistant didnt know. I attach a picture in the hope
that one of you may be able to help me identify it.

Its characteristics are that it is light green (almost aurea), its
groundcovering, with a heather type appearance (but I'm pretty sure its
not a heather species), it only appears to reach about 3-4 inches in
height and is mat forming.

Any advice on what species it is (so that I can order a batch of them in
the spring) would be gratefully received.

Looks like you might have Selaginella kraussiana, golden spikemoss,
Krauss's spikemoss, African Clubmoss. It's native to the Canaries, Azores and
parts of Africa. It's not a true moss, but a relic of the oldest extant
vascular plant division, the Lycophyta. They're spore bearing, like mosses,
but they have microphylls, leaves with a single vascular trace, unlike
all the other vascular plants.

If you've been to the Museum of Natural History in London, you may have
noticed some strikingly patterned columns -- some of them are copies
of the patterns of giant Lycophyte trunks, like Lepidodendron, of the
Carboniferous.

Anyhow, Selaginellas are cool plants, imo. S. kraussiana is probably the
easiest for most people to grow, but you might try some different
species, too. My favorite goes by the common name "peacock fern" or
"rainbow moss", though it's no more a fern than a moss: S. uncinata.
The foliage is iridescent.

Kay