Selaginella eremophila
desert spike-moss
not readily fragmenting, prostrate, upperside and underside structurally different, irregularly forked;
branches determinate, tips upturned.
conspicuously dimorphic, in 8 ranks, tightly appressed, ascending, green;
abaxial ridges present;
apex with deciduous, twisted, transparent bristle ± 0.3 mm, becoming acute to slightly mucronate in oldest branches.
solitary, 3–8 mm;
sporophylls ovate-deltate, abaxial ridges not prominent, base glabrous, margins ciliate, apex acute to mucronate.
borne on upperside of stems, throughout stem length, 0.2 mm diam.
leaves lanceolate to lanceolate-elliptic (on central ranks) or falcate (on marginal ranks), 2–2.7 × 0.5–0.7 mm;
base decurrent, glabrous;
margins ciliate, cilia transparent to opaque, spreading, 0.04–0.1 mm.
leaves lanceolate, 1.3–1.4 × 0.3–0.4 mm;
base abruptly adnate, pubescent, hairs often running along groove;
margins ciliate, cilia transparent to opaque, spreading, ca. 0.1 mm.
Selaginella eremophila
Selaginella eremophila is most closely related to the Mexican S. parishii L. Underwood and S. landii Greenman & Pfeiffer. In S. eremophila and the following two species, S. arizonica and S. peruviana, the leaves are arranged in 8 conspicuous ranks: 3 underside (2 marginal, 1 central), 2 lateral, and 3 upperside (2 marginal, 1 central).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
CA
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
