| Pteridophyte | Literature for Selaginella arbuscula
Brown & Brown, 1931; Palmer, 2003; Lorence & Wagner, 2019. |
| Selaginellaceae | Bibliography |
| Selaginella arbuscula | |
Common name(s): lepelepe a moa |
| General Information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Distribution | Eastern Melanesia, (including Fiji and perhaps also the Solomon Islands) to Eastern Polynesia (Hawaiian and Marquesas Islands)In the Hawaiian Islands, indigenous to Kaua`i, O`ahu, Moloka`i, Lana`i, Maui, Hawai`i. | |
| Habitat | Shaded soil, rocks, and cliffs in mesic to wet areas | |
| Elevation | 100-1200 m |
|
| Habit |
Terrestrial or epipetric; stems suberect to erect from decumbent bases, 10-30 cm tall, unbranched in lower half, with numerous inclined branches distally, these branching to the 2(-3) degree; rhizophores arising from stems, confined to bases of main stems or borne along lower 1/4 of main stems. |
|
| Leaves |
Sterile leaves dimorphic, the lateral ones distinctly 2-ranked, oblong, stiff, often somewhat falcate, 1.5-4.5 mm long, 0.8-2.5 mm wide, apex acute, base inequilateral, minutely ciliolate-denticulate on acroscopic and often also on the basiscopic margin at least distally, the dorsal leaves indistinctly 2-ranked, ovate-elliptic, 0.8-3 mm long, 0.3-0.8 mm wide, apex mucronate, base slightly unequal sided, both margins often ciliolate-denticulate. |
|
| Sori |
Strobili tetragonal, usually erect, symmetrical, to 10 mm long, 1.2-1.5 mm wide, sporophylls not dimorphic, imbricate, 1.2-1.5 mm long, keeled, mucronate and ciliolate-denticulate; megasporophylls slightly larger and proximal to the microsporophylls, microsporangia situated distally on spike, containing numerous microspores. |
|
| Spores |
Megaspores 3-4, spheroidal, smooth, pale yellow to white; microspores triangular with rounded angles, smooth with a 3-branched ridge at the apex, yellowish brown. |
|
| Notes |
A variable species in Hawaii and the Marquesas where it has been described or identified under a number of names including S. banksii Alston, S. bishopiana O. Schmidt, S. browniana O. Schmidt, S. jonesii O. Schmidt, and S. protracta Warburg. Presence and size of leaf cilia vary considerably in Hawaiian and Marquesan material and most Marquesas material seems referable to Selaginalla arbuscula Spring (type from Oahu, Hawai’i) according to Alan R. Smith (pers. comm. 2007). It appears to be more widespread extending to Tonga and Samoa in Western Polynesia and perhaps into Eastern Melanesia as far as Fiji and the Solomon Islands (Rhys Gardner, pers. comm. 2014)
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| Contributor |
David Lorence |