Selaginella apoda
Selaginella leucobryoides
meadow spike-moss, sélaginelle apode
Mojave spike-moss
prostrate to short-creeping, sparsely branched, branches mostly simple or 1-forked, flat, not articulate, glabrous.
decumbent to short-creeping, dry stems readily fragmenting; irregularly forked, without budlike arrested branches, tips straight;
main stem upperside and underside structurally slightly different, inconspicuously indeterminate, lateral branches radially symmetric, determinate, strongly ascending, 1-forked.
delicate, papery.
monomorphic, ± in alternate pseudowhorls of 4, tightly appressed, ascending, green, linear-oblong to linear-lanceolate, sometimes falcate on lateral rows (on main stem), 2–4.5 × 0.5–0.65 mm (usually smaller on young ascending branches);
abaxial ridges present;
base cuneate and decurrent (rounded and adnate on young branches), glabrous;
margins short-ciliate, cilia transparent, scattered, spreading at base to ascending and dentiform toward apex, 0.07–0.15 mm;
apex slightly attenuate and bristled or obtuse and abruptly bristled;
bristle whitish or transparent, puberulent, 0.2–0.6 mm.
paired or solitary, lax, flattened, 1–2 cm;
sporophylls ovate to ovate-deltate, strongly keeled, keel dentate, base slightly cordate to rounded, margins with scattered teeth, apex acuminate;
megasporophylls larger and wider than microsporophylls, usually on underside of strobili.
solitary, 0.4–1.5 cm;
sporophylls deltate-ovate or lanceolate, abaxial ridges moderately defined, base glabrous, margins short-ciliate to denticulate, apex acuminate with very short bristle.
axillary, throughout stem length or restricted to proximal 1/3 of stem, 0.05–0.1 mm diam.
borne on upperside of stems, throughout stem length, 0.2–0.35 mm diam.
leaves distant, green, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, 1.35–2.25 × 0.75–1.35 mm;
base slightly cordate;
margins green or with 1 row of transparent cells, serrate;
apex acute, ending in teeth.
leaves ovate-lanceolate, 1–1.6 × 0.45–0.7 mm;
base oblique on inner side, rounded and prominent on outer side;
margins green or with row of transparent cells, serrate;
apex straight, acuminate to long-acuminate.
Selaginella apoda
Selaginella leucobryoides
Selaginella apoda is the central component of a taxonomically difficult species complex of eastern North America. It is closely related to S. eclipes (see discussion) and S. ludoviciana. Naturally occurring and experimental hybrids between S. apoda and S. ludoviciana have been reported (P. Somers and W. R. Buck 1975; T. R. Webster 1990). Also, some evidence indicates that hybrids may occur between S. apoda and S. eclipes. More studies are needed in this complex.
The species in the S. apoda complex may be best classified under subg. Homostachys of J. G. Baker (1883, 1887), with which they share flattened strobili and larger sporophylls (megasporophylls) that are usually in the same plane as the vegetative lateral leaves. They are, however, treated here with the other heterophyllous species of subg. Stachygynandrum until a reassessment of the classification of the genus Selaginella can be made.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Selaginella leucobryoides has very tightly intertwined stems that readily fragment, a characteristic shared with S. utahensis and S. asprella. Selaginella leucobryoides is very closely related to, and difficult to separate from, S. utahensis (see discussion).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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