Selaginella hansenii
Selaginella asprella
Hansen's spike-moss
bluish spike-moss
not readily fragmenting, prostrate, upperside and underside structurally different, irregularly forked, branches determinate, tips upturned.
decumbent to short-creeping, dry stem readily fragmenting, irregularly forking, without budlike arrested branches, tips straight;
main stem upperside and underside structurally slightly different, inconspicuously indeterminate, lateral branches radially symmetric, determinate or not, often strongly ascending on cushionlike mats, 1–2-forked.
with underside leaves slightly longer and narrower than upperside leaves, otherwise monomorphic, not clearly ranked, tightly appressed, ascending, green or green with red spots, or reddish, linear-lanceolate (underside) to linear-triangular (upperside), (2–)3–4.5 × 0.5–0.6 mm;
abaxial ridges present;
base abruptly adnate, pubescent (sometimes glabrous);
margins ciliate, cilia white to white opaque, strongly appressed and ascending, 0.03–0.1 mm;
apex with bristle white to white-opaque, 0.5–1.4 mm (those on underside leaves sometimes 1/4–1/2 longer than those on upperside leaves).
monomorphic, in alternate pseudowhorls of 4, tightly appressed, ascending, green, narrowly triangular-lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, (2–)2.5–4 × 0.45–0.7(–0.8) mm (smaller on young buds);
abaxial ridges present;
base cuneate and decurrent or sometimes rounded and adnate on young buds, pubescent (hairs often covering 1/4 of leaf length abaxially);
margins ciliate, cilia transparent to whitish, spreading, 0.7–0.15 mm;
apex keeled, attenuate or obtuse, bristled;
bristle white or transparent, puberulent, 0.5–1.4 mm.
solitary, 5–7 mm;
sporophylls ovate-deltate to ovate-triangular, abaxial ridges not prominent, base glabrous, margins short-ciliate, apex bristled.
solitary, 0.4–1.5(–2) cm;
sporophylls lanceolate and strongly tapering to apex or deltate-ovate to ovate-lanceolate, abaxial ridges moderately defined, base pubescent or glabrous, margins short-ciliate to dentate, apex keeled or plane, bristled.
borne on upperside of stems, throughout stem length, 0.25–0.45 mm diam.
borne on upperside of stems, throughout stem length, 0.2–0.4 mm diam.
Selaginella hansenii
Selaginella asprella
Leaf dimorphism in Selaginella hansenii is only slightly and inconsistently expressed; the upperside leaves tend to be more lanceolate, short, and slightly thick, whereas the underside leaves tend to be more linear, longer, and thinner, but in some specimens the leaves are monomorphic. Red leaves are rare within Selaginella subg. Tetragonostachys, otherwise found in the flora only occasionally in S. rupestris. Such leaves are more common in S. steyermarkii Alston from southern Mexico and Guatemala and S. sartorii Hieronymus from Mexico.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Selaginella asprella may be confused with S. leucobryoides particularly because of its readily fragmenting stems.
Of conservation concern.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
CA
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
