Selaginella hansenii
Selaginella sibirica
Hansen's spike-moss
northern selaginella, Siberian spike-moss
not readily fragmenting, prostrate, upperside and underside structurally different, irregularly forked, branches determinate, tips upturned.
radially symmetric, creeping or decumbent, not readily fragmenting, irregularly forked, without budlike arrested branches, tips straight;
main stem indeterminate, lateral branches conspicuously or inconspicuously determinate, often strongly ascending, 1–3-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 5, tightly appressed, ascending, green, linear-lanceolate to narrowly lanceolate, 2–3.5 × 0.35–0.5 mm (smaller on lateral branches);
abaxial ridges prominent;
base cuneate and decurrent to rounded and adnate on young lateral branches or buds, glabrous or sometimes pubescent;
margins long-ciliate, cilia transparent, spreading to ascending, 0.07–0.17 mm;
apex keeled, truncate in profile, obtuse to attenuate;
bristle white to whitish or transparent, puberulent, 0.45–0.8 mm.
solitary, 5–7 mm;
sporophylls ovate-deltate to ovate-triangular, abaxial ridges not prominent, base glabrous, margins short-ciliate, apex bristled.
solitary, 0.5–2.5 cm;
sporophylls deltate-ovate to ovate-lanceolate, abaxial ridges well defined, base glabrous, margins ciliate, apex truncate in profile, bristled.
borne on upperside of stems, throughout stem length, 0.25–0.45 mm diam.
borne on upperside of stems, throughout stem length, 0.2–0.37 mm diam.
= 18.
Selaginella hansenii
Selaginella sibirica
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 sibirica is most closely allied to S. rupestris. In addition to differences noted in the descriptions, it can be distinguished from S. rupestris by the numerous marginal cilia on the leaves and by the transparent sporophyll margins; S. rupestris has a variable number (usually few) of marginal cilia and nontransparent sporophyll margins.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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