Selaginella hansenii
Selaginella selaginoides
Hansen's spike-moss
club spikemoss, clubmoss, mountain selaginella, mountain-moss, northern spike-moss, prickly mountain-moss, sélaginelle fausse-sélagine
not readily fragmenting, prostrate, upperside and underside structurally different, irregularly forked, branches determinate, tips upturned.
not readily fragmenting, tips not upturned; creeping stems filiform, indeterminate, branching dichotomously;
upright stems stout, unbranched (3–10 cm aboveground), terminating in simple strobili.
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).
green, lanceolate, 3–4.5 × 0.75–1.2 mm (smaller on horizontal stems, 1/3 less than those on upright stems);
abaxial groove absent;
base decurrent, forming saclike structure with stem;
margins with soft spiny projections, 0.1–0.2 mm;
apex acuminate to subulate.
solitary, 5–7 mm;
sporophylls ovate-deltate to ovate-triangular, abaxial ridges not prominent, base glabrous, margins short-ciliate, apex bristled.
(1–)2–3(–5) cm;
sporophylls lanceolate-triangular, 4.5–6 × 1.15–1.5 mm, lacking abaxial ridges.
borne on upperside of stems, throughout stem length, 0.25–0.45 mm diam.
= 18.
Selaginella hansenii
Selaginella selaginoides
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 selaginoides is reported to have strobili with basal megasporangia and apical microsporangia (H. T. Horner Jr. and H. J. Arnott 1963). Some individuals, however, have megasporangia at the tip of the strobili. Selaginella selaginoides is generally thought to be a primitive member of the genus (F. O. Bower 1908; T. L. Phillips and G. A. Leisman 1966; R. M. Tryon 1955), but certain of its characteristics may be derived. It is unique in having an active megaspore dispersal mechanism, termed "compression and slingshot megaspore ejection" (C. N. Page 1989), and it has a peculiar root position and development (E. E. Karrfalt 1981) probably found elsewhere only in the closely related species S. deflexa Brackenridge of Hawaii. Both features may be derived rather than primitive.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
CA
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
BC
Go Botany
MI Flora
MN Wildflowers
PNW Herbaria
