Selaginella hansenii
Selaginella utahensis
Hansen's spike-moss
Utah spike-moss
not readily fragmenting, prostrate, upperside and underside structurally different, irregularly forked, branches determinate, tips upturned.
decumbent to short-creeping, dry stems 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 alternate pseudowhorls of 4, tightly appressed, ascending, green, linear-oblong to linear-lanceolate, seldom lanceolate-elliptic, sometimes falcate on lateral ranks (on main stem), 2–4.25 × 0.45–0.75(–1) mm (smaller on young ascending branches);
abaxial ridges present;
base cuneate and decurrent, rarely rounded and adnate, glabrous, seldom slightly pubescent;
margins short-ciliate or denticulate to entire, cilia few, transparent, scattered, ascending to spreading, 0.02–0.1 mm;
apex keeled, attenuate or obtuse, blunt or acute or ending in a very short bristle or mucro;
bristle or mucro transparent to opaque, yellowish or whitish, smooth, 0–0.4 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 cm;
sporophylls lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, abaxial ridges moderately defined, base glabrous, margins short-ciliate to denticulate, apex short-bristled.
borne on upperside of stems, throughout stem length, 0.25–0.45 mm diam.
borne on upperside of stems, throughout stem length, 0.2–0.33 mm diam.
Selaginella hansenii
Selaginella utahensis
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 utahensis is very closely related to, and can be easily confused with, S. leucobryoides. The leaf apex of S. utahensis is sometimes blunt, smooth, and rather opaque, or with a very short bristle or mucro, and its leaves are in defined alternate pseudowhorls of four. In contrast, S. leucobryoides has obvious whitish, puberulent
(rough) bristles, and the leaves are not in well-defined alternate pseudowhorls. The two species overlap in range and expressions of morphologic characters. They are treated here as separate species until additional studies can be carried out to determine whether or not they represent ecological variations of the same species or distinct species.
Of conservation concern.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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