Entry From
Flora of Tropical East Africa, page 1, (2005) Author: B. Verdcourt, B.Sc., Ph.D.
Names
Selaginella goudotiana Spring [family SELAGINELLACEAE], in Bull. Acad. Brux. 10 (1): 140 (1843) (as goudotana) & Monogr. Fam. Lycopod. 2: 91 (1849); Alston in Dansk. Bot. Arkiv. 7: 198, t. 79, fig. 1 (1932); Bizzarri in Webbia 29: 580, fig. 9c (1975) (as goudotana) & F.A.C. Selaginellaceae: 34 (1985). Type: Madagascar, near Antananarivo [Tananarive], Goudot s.n. (G, holo., B, iso.)
Selaginella madagascariensis Bak. [family SELAGINELLACEAE], in J.B. 18: 372 (1880). Type: Madagascar, Antananarivo, Gilpin s.n. (K!, lecto.)
Selaginella melleri Bak. [family SELAGINELLACEAE], in J.B. 18: 372 (1880). Type: Madagascar, path over mountains by Ambatomanga, Meller s.n. (K!, lecto.)
Selaginella magnusii Hieron. [family SELAGINELLACEAE], in E. & P., Pf. 1 (4): 686 (1901). Type: Madagascar, Andrangoloaka forest, Hildebrandt 3782 (B, lecto., K!, P, isolecto.)
Information
Plant bright apple green, erect or suberect with branched main stem or prostrate with ascending branches, 3–40 cm long or tall, sometimes in dense stands; rhizophores 2–3 cm long born only at base of stem; stolons pale yellow, forming a right-angle with the stem, developing small bulbils at the tips, with very small leaves. Leaves dimorphic; lateral leaves well spaced on principal stems, closer on branches, ovate-oblong, ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate, 1.75–3 mm long, 0.5–1.8 mm wide, acute at the apex, amplexicaul at base (in primary leaves), acroscopic half leaf semi-ovate, rounded at the base, serrulate, basiscopic half leaf semi-oblong subtruncate at base, subentire; median leaves broadly lanceolate or ovate, 2–3 mm long, ± 1 mm wide, produced at apex into a fine serrated tip, 1/3–1/2 length of leaf, margins of thick-walled hyaline cells, ciliate-denticulate; axillary leaves broadly lanceolate, ± 2.2 mm long, 1.2 mm wide, acute, serrulate. Strobili 4–5(–12) mm long, ± 2 mm wide. Sporophylls dimorphic; dorsal oblong, 1.8 mm long, 0.5 mm wide, acute at apex, ciliolate-denticulate towards apex, with pale keel; ventral hyaline, ovate-triangular, 1.7–1.8 mm long, 0.8 mm wide, aristate, serrulate. Megaspores pale yellow, 250–300 µm in diameter, granulate; microspores red, 25–40 µm in diameter, covered with broad flat verrucae.