Selaginella utahensis

Flowers

Amer. Fern J. 39: 83. 1949.

Common names: Utah spike-moss
EndemicConservation concern
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 2.

Plants on rock or terrestrial, forming cushionlike mats. Stems 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. Rhizophores borne on upperside of stems, throughout stem length, 0.2–0.33 mm diam. 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. Strobili solitary, 0.5–2 cm; sporophylls lanceolate to ovatelanceolate, abaxial ridges moderately defined, base glabrous, margins short-ciliate to denticulate, apex short-bristled.


Habitat: Dry sandstone crevices, sandy soil or clay soil
Elevation: 1300–2300 m

Discussion

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.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.
... more about "Selaginella utahensis"
short-bristled +, ending in a very short bristle or mucro +, acute +, blunt +, obtuse +, attenuate +  and keeled +
Iván A. Valdespino +
Flowers +
glabrous +  and pubescent +
rounded +, decurrent +  and cuneate +
transparent;opaque yellowish or whitish +
0 cm0 mm <br />0 m <br /> (0.04 cm0.4 mm <br />4.0e-4 m <br />) +
transparent +
0.002 cm0.02 mm <br />2.0e-5 m <br /> (0.01 cm0.1 mm <br />1.0e-4 m <br />) +
Utah spike-moss +
Nev. +  and Utah. +
1300–2300 m +
Dry sandstone crevices, sandy soil or clay soil +
monomorphic +
lanceolate-elliptic +
0.075 cm0.75 mm <br />7.5e-4 m <br /> (0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br />) +
0.2 cm2 mm <br />0.002 m <br /> (0.425 cm4.25 mm <br />0.00425 m <br />) +
fertile +  and vegetative +
falcate;linear-oblong;linear-lanceolate +
0.045 cm0.45 mm <br />4.5e-4 m <br /> (0.075 cm0.75 mm <br />7.5e-4 m <br />) +
ciliate +  and serrate +
short-ciliate;denticulate +
cushionlike +
globose +, ovoid +  and tetrahedral +
tetrahedral +
transparent;opaque yellowish or whitish +
0 cm0 mm <br />0 m <br /> (0.04 cm0.4 mm <br />4.0e-4 m <br />) +
Amer. Fern J. +
alternating +
0.02 cm0.2 mm <br />2.0e-4 m <br /> (0.033 cm0.33 mm <br />3.3e-4 m <br />) +
Endemic +  and Conservation concern +
adjacently +  and monomorphic +
fertile +  and vegetative +
branched +, not +  and articulate +
dimorphic +, climbing +  and cespitose +
decumbent;short-creeping +
quadrangular +
0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br /> (2 cm20 mm <br />0.02 m <br />) +
Selaginella utahensis +
Selaginella subg. Tetragonostachys +
species +
straight +
branched +  and not articulate +
erect +  and creeping +
branched +  and not articulate +
erect +  and creeping +
differentiated +
perennial +  and annual +
epiphytic +  and hemiepiphytic +
12 +, 11 +, 10 +, 9 +, 8 +  and 7 +