Flora of North America species comparison

prostrate to short-creeping, sparsely branched, branches mostly simple or 1-forked, flat, not articulate, glabrous.

decumbent or creeping, not readily fragmenting, irregularly forked, without budlike arrested branches, tips straight;

main stem upperside and underside structurally slightly different, conspicuously or inconspicuously indeterminate, lateral branches radially symmetric, conspicuously determinate, strongly ascending, 1–2-forked.

delicate, papery.

monomorphic, in poorly defined pseudowhorls of 4 or 6, tightly appressed, ascending, green, linear-lanceolate to linear, in lateral ranks sometimes falcate, 2.5–4(–4.3) X 0.5–0.75 mm (upperside leaves smaller than underside, smaller also on ascending buds);

abaxial ridges present;

base (on main stem) decurrent, oblique, and glabrous on underside leaves, slightly decurrent to adnate, oblique, and glabrous or rarely puberulent on upperside leaves;

margins usually short-ciliate, cilia transparent, spreading or ascending at base, denticulate and ascending on distal 2/3, 0.02–0.07(–0.15) mm;

apex plane or sometimes slightly keeled, obtuse to attenuate, abruptly bristled;

bristle whitish, transparent to opaque, with few teeth or smooth, 0.5–1.1 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, (0.5–)1–3(–4.5) cm;

sporophylls ovate-lanceolate, lanceolate, or seldom ovate, usually tapering toward apex, abaxial ridges well defined, base glabrous, margins proximally short-ciliate to denticulate, lacking cilia apically, apex usually attenuate or slightly keeled, short-bristled.

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, 0.25–0.45 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.