Common Name: SPIKE-MOSS FAMILY Stem: wiry, generally rooting adventitiously [or not] from downward-growing leafless shoot-like structures (rhizophores), branching variable, generally not fragile when dry. Leaf: many, simple, overlapped, appressed, small, +- scale-like, 1-veined, generally grooved abaxially [or not] nearly to tip, generally +- of 2 kinds ("under-leaves" under main stem, "over-leaves" over it). Cone: paired or 1, terminal, generally 4-sided, fertile leaves not like sterile, generally strongly keeled. Sporangia: 1 per leaf axil, 2 kinds, male (generally more distal in cones, spores many, small), female (spores (1)4, large, generally orange-yellow). Genera In Family: 1 genus, +- 700 species: worldwide, generally tropics, warm temperate. Note: Despite recent progress in understanding relationships (Zhou et al. 2016 Cladistics 32:360--389; Weststrand & Korall 2016 Amer J Bot 103:2136--2159), future taxonomic changes in the family are likely. eFlora Treatment Author: Paul Wilson & Thomas J. Rosatti Scientific Editor: Alan R. Smith, Thomas J. Rosatti, Bruce G. Baldwin.
Etymology: (Latin: small Selago, ancient name for some Lycopodium) Note: Some cultivated as groundcover, curiosity: Selaginella kraussiana; Selaginella lepidophylla (Hook. & Grev.) Spring, resurrection plant. Hand lens, generally at +- 20×, required for leaves (shape, margin, awn at tip), cones. Unabridged Note: All native California taxa are in the Rupestrae clade (Weststrand & Korall 2016 Amer J Bot 103:2160--2169), also treated as section Homoeophyllae (Zhou et al. 2015 Taxon 64:1117--1140) or, formerly, the nomenclaturally ambiguous subgenus Tetragonostachys (Jermy 1986 Fern Gazette 13:117--118). Selaginella shared a common ancestor with Isoetes, +- 380 million years ago (Larsén & Rydin 2016 Int J Pl Sci 177:157--174).
Selaginella wallacei Hieron.
NATIVE Habit: Plant mat-forming in sun, to elongate-creeping with sterile shoot internodes often > 7 mm in shade; green aging tan then gray. Leaf: of main stems 1.4--2.5 mm, 0.3--0.7 mm wide, lanceolate, generally not decurrent, color unlike brown of stem, base glabrous, tips of leaves of sterile stems thickened around end of abaxial groove; awn 0.2--0.5(0.9) mm, rigid, +- toothed. Cone: often paired, 10--45(90) mm. Ecology: Rocky outcrops, open to shady, dry to moist sites, chaparral to mixed-evergreen forest; Elevation: < 1820 m. Bioregional Distribution: NW, CaRF, n SNF (Butte Co.), n SNH, n SnFrB (Marin Co.); Distribution Outside California: to British Columbia, Montana. Note: In shady conditions, can have elongate branches and resemble rock-dwelling forms of S. oregana; both species often have particularly long cones. Jepson eFlora Author: Paul Wilson & Thomas J. Rosatti Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange) Previous taxon: Selaginella scopulorum Next taxon: Selaginella watsonii
Botanical illustration including Selaginella wallacei
Citation for this treatment: Paul Wilson & Thomas J. Rosatti 2012, Selaginella wallacei, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=44093, accessed on November 04, 2024.
Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2024, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on November 04, 2024.
Geographic subdivisions for Selaginella wallacei:
NW, CaRF, n SNF (Butte Co.), n SNH, n SnFrB (Marin Co.)
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