Selaginella hansenii
Selaginella oregana
Hansen's spike-moss
festoon spikemoss, Oregon selaginella, Oregon spike-moss
not readily fragmenting, prostrate, upperside and underside structurally different, irregularly forked, branches determinate, tips upturned.
radially symmetric, long-pendent, not readily fragmenting, irregularly forked, without budlike arrested branches, tips straight;
main stem indeterminate, lateral branches determinate, ascending, 1-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 (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.
solitary, 5–7 mm;
sporophylls ovate-deltate to ovate-triangular, abaxial ridges not prominent, base glabrous, margins short-ciliate, apex bristled.
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.
borne on upperside of stems, throughout stem length, 0.25–0.45 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.
Selaginella hansenii
Selaginella oregana
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 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.)
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