Selaginella hansenii
Selaginella standleyi
Hansen's spike-moss
Standley's selaginella, Standley's spike-moss
not readily fragmenting, prostrate, upperside and underside structurally different, irregularly forked, branches determinate, tips upturned.
decumbent to short-creeping, not readily fragmenting, irregularly forked, without budlike arrested branches, tips straight;
main stem upperside and underside structurally slightly different, inconspicuously indeterminate, lateral branches radially symmetric, determinate, strongly 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 poorly defined pseudowhorls of 5 or 6, tightly appressed, ascending, green, linear, linear-oblong or linear-lanceolate, (2.5–)3–4.5 mm (smaller on upperside leaves and in ascending buds);
abaxial ridges present;
base decurrent, oblique, glabrous or rarely pubescent;
margins short-ciliate to denticulate, cilia transparent, scattered, spreading to ascending, 0.05–0.07(–0.1) mm;
apex keeled, obtuse, rather abruptly bristled;
bristle usually yellowish or transparent to opaque, slightly puberulent or smooth, (0.4–)0.7–1.25 mm.
solitary, 5–7 mm;
sporophylls ovate-deltate to ovate-triangular, abaxial ridges not prominent, base glabrous, margins short-ciliate, apex bristled.
solitary, 0.5–1(–2.3) cm;
sporophylls deltate-ovate, rarely ovate-lanceolate, abaxial ridges well defined, base glabrous, margins short-ciliate to denticulate on distal 3/4, apex keeled, strongly truncate in profile, abruptly bristled.
borne on upperside of stems, throughout stem length, 0.25–0.45 mm diam.
borne on upperside of stems throughout stem length, 0.2–0.35 mm diam.
Selaginella hansenii
Selaginella standleyi
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.)
R. M. Tryon (1955) reported an elevation range of 1500–4660 m for Selaginella standleyi. I have not seen specimens from these lower and higher elevations.
Selaginella standleyi is a member of the S. densa complex. It has sometimes been confused with S. watsonii and S. sibirica; it is, however, rather easy to distinguish by leaf and strobilus characters.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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