# An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States, Canada and the British Possessions/Selaginellaceae

Family 10.   Selaginellàceae   Underw.   Native Ferns 103.   1881.
Selaginella Family.
Terrestrial, annual or perennial, moss-like plants with branching stems and scale-like leaves, which are many-ranked and uniform, or 4-ranked and of two types spreading in two planes. Sporanges 1-celled, solitary in the axils of leaves which are so arranged as to form more or less quadrangular spikes, some containing 4 megaspores (megasporanges), others containing numerous microspores (microsporanges), which develop into small prothallia, those from the megaspores bearing archegones, those from the microspores antherids.
The family consists of the following genus:

## 1.0

1.  Selaginélla   Beauv.   Prodr. Aetheog. 101.   1805.
Characters of family.  [Name diminutive of Selago, an ancient name of some Lycopodium.]
About 340 species, widely distributed, most abundant in the tropics. Besides the following some five others occur in western North America. Type species: Lycopodium selaginoides L.
Stem-leaves all alike, many-ranked. :
| | • | Stems compact with rigid leaves; spikes quadrangular. | Stems compact with rigid leaves; spikes quadrangular. | Stems compact with rigid leaves; spikes quadrangular. | Stems compact with rigid leaves; spikes quadrangular. | Stems compact with rigid leaves; spikes quadrangular. | Stems compact with rigid leaves; spikes quadrangular. | Stems compact with rigid leaves; spikes quadrangular. | Stems compact with rigid leaves; spikes quadrangular. | Stems compact with rigid leaves; spikes quadrangular. | 1. | S. rupestris. |
| | • | Stems slender; leaves lax, spreading; spikes enlarged, scarcely quadrangular. | Stems slender; leaves lax, spreading; spikes enlarged, scarcely quadrangular. | Stems slender; leaves lax, spreading; spikes enlarged, scarcely quadrangular. | Stems slender; leaves lax, spreading; spikes enlarged, scarcely quadrangular. | Stems slender; leaves lax, spreading; spikes enlarged, scarcely quadrangular. | Stems slender; leaves lax, spreading; spikes enlarged, scarcely quadrangular. | Stems slender; leaves lax, spreading; spikes enlarged, scarcely quadrangular. | Stems slender; leaves lax, spreading; spikes enlarged, scarcely quadrangular. | Stems slender; leaves lax, spreading; spikes enlarged, scarcely quadrangular. | 2. | S. selaginoides. |
| • | Stem-leaves of 2 kinds, 4-ranked, spreading in 2 planes. | Stem-leaves of 2 kinds, 4-ranked, spreading in 2 planes. | Stem-leaves of 2 kinds, 4-ranked, spreading in 2 planes. | Stem-leaves of 2 kinds, 4-ranked, spreading in 2 planes. | Stem-leaves of 2 kinds, 4-ranked, spreading in 2 planes. | Stem-leaves of 2 kinds, 4-ranked, spreading in 2 planes. | Stem-leaves of 2 kinds, 4-ranked, spreading in 2 planes. | Stem-leaves of 2 kinds, 4-ranked, spreading in 2 planes. | Stem-leaves of 2 kinds, 4-ranked, spreading in 2 planes. | Stem-leaves of 2 kinds, 4-ranked, spreading in 2 planes. | 3. | S. apus. |

### 1.1

* 1.  Selaginella rupéstris  (L.) Spring. Rock Selaginella.   Festoon-pine.   Fig. 115.
* Lycopodium rupestre L. Sp. Pl. 1101. 1753.
* Selaginella rupestris Spring in Mart. Fl. Bras. I²: 118. 1840.
* Stems densely tufted, with occasional sterile runners and sub-pinnate branches, 1'−3' high commonly curved when dry. Leaves rigid, appressed-imbricated, 1" or less long, linear or linear-lanceolate, convex on the back, more or less ciliate, many-ranked, tipped with a distinct transparent awn; spikes sessile at the ends of the stem or branches, strongly quadrangular, 6"−12" long, about 1" thick; bracts ovate-lanceolate, acute or acuminate, broader than the leaves of the stem; megasporanges and microsporanges borne in the same spikes, the former more abundant.
* On dry rocks, New England and Ontario to Georgia and the middle West. Ascends to at least 2000 ft. in Virginia. Dwarf club-moss. Christmas-evergreen. Resurrection-plant. Aug.−Oct.

### 1.2

* 2.  Selaginella selaginoìdes  (L.) Link. Low Selaginella.   Fig. 116.
* Lycopodium selaginoides L. Sp. Pl. 1101.   1753.
* S. spinosa Beauv.   Prodr. Aetheog. 112.   1805.
* Selaginella selaginoides Link.   Fil. Hort. Berol. 158.   1841.
* Sterile branches prostrate-creeping, slender, ½'-2' long, the fertile erect or ascending, thicker, 1'-3' high, simple; leaves lanceolate, acute, lax and spreading, sparsely spinuloseciliate, 1"-2" long; spikes solitary at the ends of the fertile branches, enlarged, oblong-linear, subacute, 1' or less long, 2"-2½" thick ; bracts of the spike lax, ascending, lanceolate or ovatelanceolate,
* strongly ciliate.
* On wet rocks, Labrador to Alaska, south to New Hampshire, Michigan and Colorado. Also in northern Europe, Greenland and Asia. Mountain-moss. Prickly club-moss. Summer.

### 1.3

* 3.  Selaginella àpus  (L.) Spring. Creeping Selaginella.   Fig. 117.
* Lycopodium apodum L. Sp. Pl. 1105.   1753.
* S. apus Spring in Mart. Fl. Bras. 1²: 119.   1840.
* Annual, light green, stems prostrate-creeping, 1'-4' long, much branched, flaccid, angled on the face. Leaves minute, membranous, of 2 kinds, 4-ranked, spreading in 2 planes; upper leaves of the lower plane spreading, the lower reflexed, ovate, acute, serrulate, not distinctly ciliate; leaves of the upper plane ovate, short-cuspidate; spikes 3"-8" long, obscurely quadrangular; bracts ovate, acute, sometimes serrulate, acutely keeled in the upper half; megasporanges more abundant toward the base of the spike.
* In moist shaded places, often among grass, Maine and Ontario to the Northwest Territory, south to Florida, Louisiana and Texas. Ascends to 2200 ft. in Virginia. July-Sept.