Flora of North America species comparison

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Selaginella eclipes

Selaginella oregana

buck's meadow spike-moss, hidden spike-moss

festoon spikemoss, Oregon selaginella, Oregon spike-moss
Habit Plants terrestrial, forming loose to dense mats. Plants usually epiphytic, less often terrestrial, forming festoonlike mats.
Stems

short-creeping, branched, branches 1–2-forked, flat, not articulate, glabrous.

radially symmetric, long-pendent, not readily fragmenting, irregularly forked, without budlike arrested branches, tips straight;

main stem indeterminate, lateral branches determinate, ascending, 1-forked.
Leaves

papery, delicate.

monomorphic, in alternate pseudowhorls of 4 (on main stem) and 3 (on lateral branches and secondary branches), loosely appressed, ascending, green, narrowly triangular-lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, 2–3.35 × 0.4–0.6 mm;

abaxial ridges prominent, often flanked by two bands of cells (several rows wide) with whitish papillae (only in S. oregana, better seen on dry leaves);

base cuneate and strongly decurrent on main stems and lateral branches or rounded and slightly decurrent to adnate on secondary branches, glabrous (seldom pubescent);

margins entire or with very short cilia or denticulate, cilia few, transparent, scattered, ascending to slightly spreading, dentiform toward apex, 0.02–0.04 mm;

apex slightly keeled, long-attenuate, short-bristled;

bristle (hard to distinguish from apex) transparent or greenish transparent to yellowish or brownish (in old leaves), smooth, sometimes breaking off, (0.07–)0.17–0.4 mm.
Strobili

solitary or paired, lax, flattened, 1–4 cm;

sporophylls ovate to ovate-deltate, strongly keeled, keel dentate, base glabrous, slightly cordate to rounded, margins serrate, apex acuminate;

megasporophylls larger and wider than microsporophylls, usually on underside of strobili.

often paired, 1–6 cm;

sporophylls lanceolate to narrowly ovate-lanceolate, abaxial ridges prominent, base glabrous, margins short-ciliate to denticulate (at middle), entire toward both base and apex, apex keeled to plane, short-bristled or merely long-attenuate.
Rhizophores

throughout stem length, 0.06–0.1 mm diam.

borne on upperside of stems, restricted to base of pendent stems, or borne throughout on terrestrial stems, 0.13–0.2 mm diam.
Lateral

leaves nearly perpendicular to stem, green, ovate to ovate-elliptic, 1–2 × 0.5–1.3 mm;

base rounded to slightly subcordate;

margins slightly transparent, serrate;

apex acute.

Median

leaves ovate to ovate-lanceolate or lanceolate, 1–1.8 × 0.4–0.8 mm;

base rounded to oblique;

margins green, serrate;

apex abruptly tapered, long-acuminate to bristled, frequently transparent, midrib extending into apex.

Selaginella eclipes

Selaginella oregana
Habitat Moist to wet, calcareous habitats, swamps, meadows, pastures, open woods, or rarely on rock Pendent on trunks and branches of mossy trees (Acer macrophyllum Pursh, Populus trichocarpa Torrey & A. Gray ex Hooker, and Alnus rubra Bongard) or on deep-shaded and moist rocky banks
Elevation 0–100 m (0–300 ft) 0–200 m (0–700 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AR; IA; IL; IN; MI; MO; NY; OK; WI; ON; QC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; OR; WA; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Selaginella eclipes, a member of the S. apoda complex, may prove to be better treated as a subspecies of S. apoda (W. R. Buck 1977). It is recognized here at the specific level to highlight the problems within this species complex. Further research is needed to elucidate the relationships among the species of the complex.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Selaginella oregana, one of the most distinct species in the flora, is easily distinguished by its usually long, epiphytic-pendent stems, slightly loose strobili, and curled branches (in dry specimens). In the flora, S. oregana is most closely related to S. underwoodii. It is sometimes confused with S. wallacei (see discussion), and it shares some characteristics with the Mexican species, S. extensa L. Underwood. In S. oregana, very often where a branch fork occurs, one of the branches is arrested (R. M. Tryon 1955). The strobili of S. oregana are among the longest in the flora, and they often show several novel features. Very often the apex of a strobilus undergoes a period of vegetative growth, thus becoming a vegetative shoot, and after an interval the apex reverts to the fertile condition, forming a strobilus again. In other cases, the strobilus forks, giving rise to two new strobili.

Of conservation concern.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 2. FNA vol. 2.
Parent taxa Selaginellaceae > Selaginella > subg. Stachygynandrum Selaginellaceae > Selaginella > subg. Tetragonostachys
Sibling taxa
S. acanthonota, S. apoda, S. arenicola, S. arizonica, S. asprella, S. bigelovii, S. braunii, S. cinerascens, S. densa, S. douglasii, S. eatonii, S. eremophila, S. hansenii, S. kraussiana, S. lepidophylla, S. leucobryoides, S. ludoviciana, S. mutica, S. oregana, S. peruviana, S. pilifera, S. rupestris, S. rupincola, S. scopulorum, S. selaginoides, S. sibirica, S. standleyi, S. tortipila, S. uncinata, S. underwoodii, S. utahensis, S. viridissima, S. wallacei, S. watsonii, S. weatherbiana, S. willdenowii, S. wrightii, S. ×neomexicana
S. acanthonota, S. apoda, S. arenicola, S. arizonica, S. asprella, S. bigelovii, S. braunii, S. cinerascens, S. densa, S. douglasii, S. eatonii, S. eclipes, S. eremophila, S. hansenii, S. kraussiana, S. lepidophylla, S. leucobryoides, S. ludoviciana, S. mutica, S. peruviana, S. pilifera, S. rupestris, S. rupincola, S. scopulorum, S. selaginoides, S. sibirica, S. standleyi, S. tortipila, S. uncinata, S. underwoodii, S. utahensis, S. viridissima, S. wallacei, S. watsonii, S. weatherbiana, S. willdenowii, S. wrightii, S. ×neomexicana
Name authority W. R. Buck: Canad. J. Bot. 55: 366. (1977) D. C. Eaton: in S. Watson, Bot. California 2: 350. (1880)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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