Description ²

Horizontal stems on substrate surface or shallowly buried in litter, 1.1--2.2 mm wide; leaves appressed, linear to narrowly lanceolate, 1.4--4 X 0.5--1.2 mm, apices acute. Upright shoots 8--44 cm, branching irregularly successively to 5 times; leaves on upright main stem appressed with decurrent base, narrowly lanceolate, 1.2--3.2 X 0.5--1.1 mm, apex acute to acuminate. Branchlets flat in cross section, narrowly bladelike, 1.8--4 mm wide, annual bud constrictions abrupt and conspicuous; upperside green, faintly shiny, flat; underside dull, pale, flat. Leaves on branchlets 4-ranked; upperside leaves appressed, linear-lanceolate, free portion of blades 0.7--2 X 0.5--1.2 mm; lateral leaves appressed, 2.6--7.3 X 0.8--2.1 mm; underside leaves weakly developed, appressed, narrowly deltate, 0.7--1.5 X 0.4--0.9 mm. Peduncles 1--2 on each upright shoot, 0.5--8.5 X 0.4--0.9 cm; leaves spirally arranged to nearly whorled, linear-lanceolate, 1.4--4.1 X 0.4--1 mm, apex acute to blunt. Stalks forked at uniform distances. Strobili 1--2(--4), 8.3--32 X 2--3 mm, apex blunt, sterile tip absent. Sporophylls broadly deltate to nearly cordate, 2--3 X 2--2.4 mm, apex abruptly tapering. 2 n = 46.

Sources and Credits

1. (c) Dick Culbert, some rights reserved (CC BY), https://www.flickr.com/photos/92252798@N07/11310000313/
2. (c) Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/4927857

More Info