eFlora of India

Selaginella involvens

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Selaginella involvens (Sw.) Spring, Bull. Acad. Roy. Sci. Bruxelles 10(1): 136 1843. (syn: Lycopodioides involvens (Sw.) O.Kuntze; Lycopodioides pennula (Desv.) O.Kuntze; Lycopodium caulescens Wall.; Lycopodium involvens Sw.; Lycopodium microstachyum Desv. ex Poir. (ambiguous synonym); Selaginella bellula Cesati (ambiguous synonym); Selaginella caudispica Alderw.; Selaginella caulescens (Wall. ex Hook. & Grev.) Spring; Selaginella caulescens var. belulla (Ces.) Hieron.; Selaginella caulescens var. brachypoda Bak.; Selaginella caulescens var. gracilis Bull.; Selaginella caulescens var. japonica (Moore ex Mc Nab) Bak.; Selaginella caulescens f. minor Hieron.; Selaginella caulescens var. minor Milde; Selaginella caulescens var. minor Sandford; Selaginella caulescens var. subintegerrima Spring; Selaginella homomorpha Kl. ex Milde; Selaginella involvens var. bellula (Ces.) Hieron.; Selaginella japonica Hort. (ambiguous synonym); Selaginella merrillii Alderw.; Selaginella microstachya (Desv.) Hieron.; Selaginella microstachya Warb.; Selaginella mindanaoensis Hieron.; Selaginella pachystachys Koidz.; Selaginella peltata Presl; Selaginella pennula (Desv.) Spring; Selaginella polyura Warb.; Selaginella pseudo-stauntoniana Pamp.; Selaginella striolata Warb.; Selaginella warburgii Hieron.);
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Tropical & Subtropical Asia to NW. Pacific: Andaman Is., Assam, Borneo, Cambodia, Caroline Is., China North-Central, China South-Central, China Southeast, East Himalaya, Hainan, India, Japan, Jawa, Laos, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Myanmar, Nansei-shoto, Nepal, Nicobar Is., Philippines, Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Taiwan, Thailand, Tibet, Vietnam, West Himalaya as per POWO;
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China (Anhui, Chongqing, Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, Zhejiang), Taiwan, Tibet, Japan, South Korea, Ryukyu Isl., Borneo (Mt. Kinabalu, etc.), India (Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam State, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, West Bengal), Andaman Isl., Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar [Burma], Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Sulawesi, Lesser Sunda Isl. (Flores), Laos, Philippines, Java, peninsular Malaysia (Penang, Perak), Palau Isl., Tanzania (I) as per Catalogue of Life;
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Lithophytes or epiphytes with erect or suberect stem, 30-40 cm long, 5 mm thick, including leaves. Leaves heteromorphic throughout; median leaves 1.8 x 1 mm, ovate-acuminate, ciliate; lateral leaves 2.5 x 1.5 mm, ovate, acute, ciliate; axillary leaves 2 x 1.2 mm, ovate, acute, ciliate. Strobili 5 x 2 mm, quadrangular; sporophylls isomorphic, 1.5-1.8 x 0.5-0.8 mm, ovate, acuminate, denticulate. Microspores 35 x 30 mm, warty with thin perispore. Macrospores 900 x 700 mm, dark brown.
Growing on boulders and soil near the streams and rarely on trees, in semi-evergreen and evergreen forests.
(Attributions- K. P. Rajesh as per India Biodiversity Portal) 
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Selaginella involvens (Sw.) Spring SN28420 : 3 posts by 2 authors. Attachments (1)- 4 mb.
Selaginella involvens (Sw.) Spring, wild primitive fern from Western Ghats Tamilnadu

Selaginella species are highly specialised of recent radiation and have advanced heterospory- I am not sure why you seem to thing fern-allies are all ancient and primitive throwbacks – it isn’t so realistic!

 

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