Selaginella hansenii
Selaginella ludoviciana
Hansen's spike-moss
gulf spike-moss, Louisiana spike-moss
not readily fragmenting, prostrate, upperside and underside structurally different, irregularly forked, branches determinate, tips upturned.
long-creeping, usually ascending, sparsely branched, branches mostly simple or 1-forked, flat, not articulate, glabrous.
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).
delicate, papery.
solitary, 5–7 mm;
sporophylls ovate-deltate to ovate-triangular, abaxial ridges not prominent, base glabrous, margins short-ciliate, apex bristled.
solitary or paired, lax, flattened, 0.4–0.7(–1.5) cm;
sporophylls very strongly keeled, keel dentate, base slightly cordate to rounded, margins transparent, sparsely serrate, apex acuminate;
megasporophylls larger and wider than microsporophylls, usually on underside of strobili.
borne on upperside of stems, throughout stem length, 0.25–0.45 mm diam.
axillary, 0.1–0.2 mm diam.
leaves well spaced, green, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, 1.6–2.65 × 0.98–1.64 mm;
base slightly cordate;
margins transparent, serrate;
apex acute to slightly obtuse, conspicuously ending in teeth.
leaves spaced, ovate-lanceolate to narrowly ovate-lanceolate (on basal stems), 1.3–2 × 0.4–0.8 mm;
base oblique on inner side, rounded and prominent on outer side;
margins transparent, serrate;
apex long-acuminate to bristled.
Selaginella hansenii
Selaginella ludoviciana
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.)
Among the species in the flora, Selaginella ludoviciana is most closely related to S. apoda (see discussion) and has often been included in S. apoda. W. R. Buck and T. W. Lucansky (1976) concluded that two species should be recognized based on anatomic and morphologic data. A close examination of distribution of sporangia in the strobili in many specimens reveals that sporangial arrangement may be more variable than reported by H. T. Horner Jr. and H. J. Arnott (1963). All species in the S. apoda complex (see S. apoda and S. eclipes for discussion on the complex) have sporophylls with fused blade tissue.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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