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Selaginella Palisot de Beauvois. Subfamily: Selaginoideae. Common name: Spikemoss.

Key to Selaginella

A genus of 2 species, rhizomatous herbs, circumboreal. Selaginella has traditionally been treated as the single genus in Selaginellaceae, with the same circumscription as the family, and therefore estimated to have about 700 (or more) species. Zhou & Zhang (2023) proposed a division of Selaginella into 19 genera. Under this (or any other phylogenetic classification with generic recognition of 2 or more clades in the family), Selaginella is reduced to an anomalous and first-branching ('basal') genus of 2 species. In order to retain the name Selaginella for one of the most speciose clades, with ca. 225 species, Wan et al. (2023) proposed conservation of the name Selaginella with a different type; this proposal was debated (Valdespino et al. 2024; Zhou & Zhang 2024) and the proposal was not recommended (Applequist 2024e).

References: Applequist (2024e); Buck & Lucansky (1976); Valdespino (1993) In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (1993b); Wan et al. (2023); Weakley (2022) In Weakley et al. (2022); Zhou & Zhang (2023); Zhou & Zhang (2024). Show full citations.

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image of plant© Alan Cressler: Selaginella eatonii, Miami-Dade County, Florida 4 by Alan Cressler | Selaginella eatonii source | Original Image ⭷
image of plant© Alan Cressler: Lycopodioides ludovicianum, Apalachicola Ravines, Gadsden County, Florida 3 by Alan Cressler | Selaginella ludoviciana source | Original Image ⭷
image of plant© Alan M. Cressler | Selaginella eatonii | Original Image ⭷
image of plant© Alan Cressler: Lycopodioides ludovicianum, Angus K. Gholson, Jr. Nature Park, Chattahoochee, Gadsden County, Florida 3 by Alan Cressler | Selaginella ludoviciana source | Original Image ⭷
image of plant© Alan Cressler: Lycopodioides apodum, Prairie Grove Glades, Mississippian Age, Bangor Limestone, Lawrence County, Alabama 1 by Alan Cressler | Selaginella apoda source | Original Image ⭷
image of plant© Gary P. Fleming | Selaginella apoda | Original Image ⭷

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