Selaginella hansenii
Selaginella wallacei
Hansen's spike-moss
Wallace's selaginella, Wallace's 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 long, indeterminate, lateral branches determinate, ascending, 1–2-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 or loosely appressed, ascending, green, linear-lanceolate, (1.5–)1.8–3.5 × 0.39–0.66 mm;
abaxial ridges well defined;
base rounded and adnate or cuneate and slightly decurrent on fleshy, loosely appressed stem leaves (from wet places), pubescent, seldom glabrous;
margins short-ciliate to denticulate, cilia transparent, spreading at base, dentiform, and ascending toward apex, 0.03–0.06(–0.1) mm;
apex keeled and obtuse, sometimes attenuate or plane and attenuate, abruptly short- to long-bristled;
bristle transparent to whitish, puberulent, sometimes breaking off, (0.16–)0.2–0.46(–0.9) mm.
solitary, 5–7 mm;
sporophylls ovate-deltate to ovate-triangular, abaxial ridges not prominent, base glabrous, margins short-ciliate, apex bristled.
often paired, 1–4.5(–9) cm;
sporophylls deltate-ovate (mostly on exposed and compact mats) or lanceolate-ovate (on loose, spreading mats from wet places), abaxial ridges well defined, base glabrous, margins short-ciliate to denticulate, apex keeled, abruptly short-bristled, seldom tapering into bristle.
borne on upperside of stems, throughout stem length, 0.25–0.45 mm diam.
borne on upperside of stems, throughout stem length, 0.23–0.36(–0.4) mm diam.
Selaginella hansenii
Selaginella wallacei
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 wallacei is extremely variable depending on its habitat (R. M. Tryon 1955). Plants in dry, exposed conditions have short stems, form compact mats with tightly appressed leaves adnate to the stem, and have a rather keeled, abruptly bristled apex. Plants from moist habitats have long stems, form rather moderately long-creeping mats, and have less appressed, decurrent, fleshy leaves, with a more plane-attenuate apex that gradually tapers into a bristle. Plants from exposed, dry conditions sometimes are confused with S. scopulorum, but they have a keeled apex with well-defined ridges on the abaxial groove whereas in S. scopulorum the leaf apex is ± plane and attenuate, and the ridges on the abaxial groove are not prominent. Plants from moist habitats somewhat resemble plants of S. underwoodii.
R. M. Tryon (1955) found strobili 9 cm long in Selaginella wallacei, the longest strobili known within subg. Tetragonostachys and comparable only to those of S. oregana.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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