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Selaginella willdenowii

Comments 3

Selaginella willdenowii is cultivated principally as a garden plant; it escapes and becomes naturalized in southern Florida. It is now widely distributed and naturalized in many regions in tropical and subtropical America. Its bushy to vinelike habit and blue-green, iridescent leaves are unusual. The iridescence is apparently caused by the effect of thin film interference filters in the leaf epidermis (D. W. Lee 1977). Lee pointed out that the convex epidermal cells in this species may focus light into a single, distal, large chloroplast, possibly adaptations for the improvement of photosynthetic efficiency at the forest floor level. 

 Selaginella willdenowii is related to S . uncinata (Desvaux ex Poiret) Spring and to S . plana (Desvaux ex Poiret) Hieronymus, which has been reported in Florida (O. Lakela and R. W. Long 1976) but apparently has not become naturalized. Selaginella plana is an erect plant; the secondary branches have obovate-oblong axillary leaves with the apices acute to slightly acuminate, lateral leaves with rounded apices, and median leaves obtuse to rounded. The sporophylls are ovate-lanceolate, with serrate to short-ciliate and very distinctive, white transparent margins.

Description 4

Plants terrestrial, vinelike or shrublike. Stems high-climbing, many times branched, branches 4--5-forked, flat, not articulate, glabrous. Rhizophores borne on upperside or underside of stems throughout stem length, 2--3 mm diam. Leaves delicate, papery. Lateral leaves distant, iridescent, blue-green, ovate to oblong, (2.5--)3--4 X (1--)1.5--2 mm (leaves on tertiary stems ± 1/3 smaller); basiscopic base rounded, acroscopic base with whitish, long, downward-curving auricle; margins transparent (whitish and shiny when dry), entire; apex rounded or obtuse. Median leaves falcate-lanceolate or oblique-ovate, 2.4--2.7 X 0.9--1.3 mm; base auriculate, outer auricle larger than inner; margins transparent, entire; apex obtuse. Strobili solitary, 0.5--2 cm; sporophylls monomorphic, cordate to ovate-deltate, base glabrous, margins green, entire, apex slightly cuspidate. 2 n = 20.

Diagnostic description 5

Selaginella willdenovii (Desv. ex Poir.) Baker, Gard. Chron. 1867: 783, 950. 1867.

Fig. 12. D-G

Basionym: Lycopodium willdenovii Desv. ex Poir.

Clambering herb, 6-10 m in length. Stems brittle, with numerous secondary branches up to 50 cm long, these again branched into short branches with determinate growth, which attain 13 cm long and give the appearance of a 3-pinnate, triangular leaf. Primary and secondary branches greenish or with a reddish shade. Leaves oblong-ovate, imbricate and in two layers, the upper layer of leaves ca. 1 mm long, the lower layer of leaves 3-4 mm long, the apex obtuse, the base auriculate to subcordiform, sessile. Strobili 1.5-2 cm long, green, at the tips of the tertiary branches.

Phenology: Collected in fertile condition in February.

Status: Exotic, naturalized, uncommon.

Selected Specimens Examined: Acevedo-Rdgz., P. 9328.

Sources and Credits

  1. (c) 106611639464075912591, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), uploaded by 106611639464075912591, https://picasaweb.google.com/106611639464075912591/BtanicGarden2#5958623152424490802
  2. (c) 106611639464075912591, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), uploaded by 106611639464075912591, https://picasaweb.google.com/106611639464075912591/JurongECOGarden#6023802231724892818
  3. (c) Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/19825068
  4. (c) Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/5009343
  5. (c) Pedro Acevedo-Rodríguez, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/28435055

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