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Selaginella sericea

Overview

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Threatened
Threat status

Description

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Family Selaginellaceae

Plants herbaceous, annual or perennial , sometimes remaining green over winter. Stems leafy, branching dichotomously, regularly or irregularly forked or branched, protostelic (sometimes with many protosteles or meristeles), siphonostelic, or actino-plectostelic. Rhizophores (modified leafless shoots producing roots ) present or absent, geotropic , borne on stems at branch forks, throughout, or confined to base of stems. Leaves on 1 plant dimorphic or monomorphic , small, with adaxial ligule near base, single-veined [rarely veins forked]. Strobili (clusters of overlapping sporophylls) sometimes ill-defined, terminal [lateral ], cylindric , quadrangular , or flattened. Sporophylls (fertile leaves) monomorphic or adjacently different, slightly or highly differentiated from vegetative (sterile ) leaves. Sporangia short-stalked, solitary in axil of sporophylls, opening by distal slits. Spores of 2 types (plants heterosporous), megaspores (1--2--) 4, large, microspores numerous (hundreds ), minute.

Genera 1, over 700 species (38 species in the flora ) : worldwide, primarily in tropical and subtropical regions.

Selaginellaceae traditionally include only one genus of living plants, Selaginella (A. C. Jermy 1990b; R. M. Tryon and A. F. Tryon 1982) . Some authors (O. Kuntze 1891--1898, vol. 2, pp. 824--827; W. Rothmaler 1944), however, have segregated other genera based on generic concepts established by A. Palisot de Beauvois (1805, pp. 95--114), who recognized four genera. A. F. Spring (1850) combined the four genera into the broadly defined genus Selaginella . Spring's generic delimitation has resulted in misinterpretations that created many nomenclatural problems and partly led to the continued recognition of only one genus. Nevertheless, species in Selaginella fall into at least three well-defined groups, all present in North America, that may be recognized as genera based on anatomy , embryology, morphology and arrangement of the leaves and sporophylls, and morphology and symmetry of the strobilus. North American Selaginellaceae, which represent only a small portion of the family , are treated here in Selaginella, pending a full revision of the family worldwide.

Species in the fossil genus Selaginellites Zeller, which dates to the Carboniferous period, presumably are congeneric with Selaginella . Among the fern allies, Selaginellaceae are related only distantly to the other lycopod families, Lycopodiaceae and Isoëtaceae (R. M. Tryon and A. F. Tryon 1982) .[1]

Tribe Senecioneae

The Senecioneae are a tribe of closely related genera that can be recognized most readily by the nature of the pappus and the involucral bracts or phyllaries. The phyllaries are basically in one well developed, often partially or wholly connate series of equal length that closely envelope the head . Frequently there are a few, very much smaller and mostly randomly distributed, often necrotic-tipped bracts near the base of the main series. The pappus is of fine, soft, often pure white capillary hairs . Heads may be either discoid or radiate . -- Gerald Carr.

Genus Selaginella

Plants terrestrial , on rock, or rarely hemiepiphytic (initially terrestrial, becoming epiphytic) or epiphytic (in S . oregana ) . Stems prostrate , creeping , decumbent , cespitose, climbing , or fully erect , articulate or not, slightly to greatly branched. Rhizophores usually present, stout or filiform . Roots branching several times dichotomously from rhizophore tips . Leaves on aerial stems dimorphic or monomorphic ; if monomorphic, then linear to narrowly lanceolate, highly overlapping, spirally arranged ; if leaves on aerial stem dimorphic, then round or oblong to lanceolate, arranged in 4 ranks , 2 ranks of larger spreading lateral leaves and 2 ranks of smaller, appressed , and ascending median leaves, often with axillary leaf at base of each branching dichotomy. Megasporangia lobed to ovoid ; microsporangia reniform to ovoid. Megaspores tetrahedral , ovoid, or globose , variously sculptured , (127--) 200--1360 µm diam.; microspores tetrahedral, variously sculptured, 20--75 µm diam. x = 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.

Species probably more than 700: worldwide, mainly tropical and subtropical regions.

The generic and infrageneric classification of Selaginella is controversial, and more than one genus may be recognized (see R. E. G. Pichi-Sermolli 1971 for information on generic synonyms) . A. C. Jermy (1986, 1990b) proposed a subgeneric classification similar to that of J. G. Baker (1883, 1887) . Despite some reservations, I consider Jermy's system useful for our purpose; therefore it is followed here. Three of the five subgenera proposed by Jermy occur in the flora area: subg. Selaginella, subg. Tetragonostachys, and subg. Stachygynandrum . One of the species in the flora, Selaginella eatonii (see discussion), may eventually prove to be best classified within a fourth, subg. Heterostachys Baker.

Some characteristics used in the keys and descriptions are best observed in fresh specimens or by soaking a sample of a dried specimen in water, using material at branch forks or buds. This is particularly true for members of subg. Tetragonostachys . Use a minimum of 20X (40--60X better) magnification and take measurements of both young and old leaves. Measurements of leaf length include the bristle and the most basal portion.

Selaginella subg. Tetragonostachys has a tendency for stem and leaves close to the substrate surface to be morphologically different from those on the side away from the substrate. In this case, the leaves on the side of the axis away from the surface are called upperside leaves, and those on the side toward the surface are called underside leaves . Otherwise, the leaves are designated only as leaves . In the subg. Stachygynandrum, however, which has complete structural differentiation between stem sides, the upper leaves are called median leaves, and the lower ones are called lateral leaves.[2]

Habitat

Ecology: Occurs in humid Amazonian forest , coastal forest and high Andean forest (500–2,500 m ).[3]


List of Habitats :1.6Forest - Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland 1.9Forest - Subtropical/Tropical Moist Montane

Taxonomy

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Notes

Publishing author : A.Br.

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Selaginella

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 823 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus. Here are just 100 of them:

S. abyssinica · S. acanthonota (Sandy Spike-Moss) · S. acanthostachys · S. achotalensis · S. adunca · S. aequilonga · S. affinis · S. agusanensis · S. aitchisonii · S. albidocincta · S. albiduta · S. albociliata · S. albocincta · S. albolineata · S. albonitens · S. albonitens f. typica · S. alligans · S. alutacea · S. amazonica · S. ambigua · S. amblyphylla · S. anaclasta · S. anceps · S. andrewsii · S. aneitense · S. anisoclada · S. anisotis · S. anniesii · S. apoda (Meadow Spike-Moss) · S. apoda var. ludoviciana · S. apoensis · S. applanata · S. apus · S. apus var. denticulata · S. apus var. macrostachya · S. arbuscula (Dwarf Spikemoss) · S. arechavaletae · S. arenaria · S. arenicola (Sand Spike-Moss) · S. arenicola arenicola (Sand Spike-Moss) · S. arenicola riddellii (Riddell's Spike-Moss) · S. arenicola subsp. riddellii (Riddell's Spikemoss) · S. arenicola var. acanthonota · S. aristata · S. arizonica (Arizona Spike-Moss) · S. armata (Armored Spike-Moss) · S. armata var. eatonii · S. arrecta · S. arsenei · S. arsiclada · S. arthritica · S. articulata · S. ascendens · S. aschenbornii · S. asperula · S. asplundii · S. asprella (Bluish Spike-Moss) · S. assurgens · S. atimonanensis · S. atirrensis · S. atro-viridis · S. atroviridis · S. atroviridis var. trachyphylla · S. auquieri · S. australiensis · S. australiensis var. leptostachya · S. bahiensis · S. bakeriana · S. balansae · S. balfourii · S. banajaoensis · S. banksii · S. barklyi · S. barnebeyana · S. barrancae · S. basipilosa · S. beitelii · S. belangeri · S. bellula · S. bemarahensis · S. bernoullii · S. biauriculata · S. biformis · S. bigelovii (Bigelow's Spike-Moss) · S. binervis · S. bisulcata · S. blepharophylla · S. bluuensis · S. bodinieri · S. bolanderi · S. bombycina · S. bomiensis · S. boninensis · S. borealis · S. boschai · S. bracei · S. brachyclada · S. brachylepis · S. bradeorum · S. brasiliensis

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal March 17, 2008:

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Iván A. Valdespino "Selaginellaceae". in Flora of North America Vol. 2. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. Iván A. Valdespino "Selaginella". in Flora of North America Vol. 2. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  3. Navarrete, H. & Pitman, N. 2003. In IUCN 2008. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCNRedList.org. Downloaded July 19, 2008. [back]
Last Revised: 2009-07-03