Flora of North America species comparison

decumbent or creeping, not readily fragmenting, irregularly forked, without budlike arrested branches, tips straight;

main stem upperside and underside structurally slightly different, conspicuously or inconspicuously indeterminate, lateral branches radially symmetric, conspicuously determinate, strongly ascending, 1–2-forked.

monomorphic, in poorly defined pseudowhorls of 4 or 6, tightly appressed, ascending, green, linear-lanceolate to linear, in lateral ranks sometimes falcate, 2.5–4(–4.3) X 0.5–0.75 mm (upperside leaves smaller than underside, smaller also on ascending buds);

abaxial ridges present;

base (on main stem) decurrent, oblique, and glabrous on underside leaves, slightly decurrent to adnate, oblique, and glabrous or rarely puberulent on upperside leaves;

margins usually short-ciliate, cilia transparent, spreading or ascending at base, denticulate and ascending on distal 2/3, 0.02–0.07(–0.15) mm;

apex plane or sometimes slightly keeled, obtuse to attenuate, abruptly bristled;

bristle whitish, transparent to opaque, with few teeth or smooth, 0.5–1.1 mm.

solitary, (0.5–)1–3(–4.5) cm;

sporophylls ovate-lanceolate, lanceolate, or seldom ovate, usually tapering toward apex, abaxial ridges well defined, base glabrous, margins proximally short-ciliate to denticulate, lacking cilia apically, apex usually attenuate or slightly keeled, short-bristled.

borne on upperside of stems, throughout stem length, 0.25–0.45 mm diam.