SELAGINELLACEAE 63 



4. L. phyllanthum Hook. & Am. 



A pendulous, dichotomously forked epiphyte 40 to 70 cm /in length, the 

 stems rather stout, 4 to 5 mm in diameter. Leaves lanceolate, very nu- 

 merous, spreading or ascending, 1 to 1.5 cm long, up to 5 mm in width. 

 Spikes slender, simple or dichotomously forked, 8 to IB cm long, about 2 mm 

 in diameter, the bracts ovate, imbricate, keeled, about 1.5 mm long. 



Occasionally cultivated in hanging baskets, etc.; widely distributed in 

 the Philippines. India to Malaya, Polynesia, and the Hawaiian Islands. 



' 6. SELAGINELLACEAE (Selaginella Family) 



Prostrate, ascending, or erect, delicate to coarse, subsimple to copiously 

 branched, annual or perennial plants, the branches usually in one plane. 

 Leaves small, spaced to closely imbricated, with a central vein, usually in 

 four rows and of two kinds, the two rows of the lower plane larger and 

 more spreading than the two rows of the upper plane which are usually 

 appressed to the stem. Spikes usually square, of four rows of closely 

 imbricated bracts more or less similar to the leaves, either all similar, or 

 two rows with bracts larger than the other two. Sporangia minute, round, 

 membranaceous, 1-celled, in the axils of the bracts, forming dense spikes at 

 the ends of the leafy branches, the microspores very minute, numerous, the 

 macrospores larger, few to many. 



A single cosmopolitan genus. 



1. SELAGINELLA Linnaeus 



Character of the Family as given above. (Diminutive of Selago, an 

 ancient name of Lycopodium and whicli these plants greatly resemble.) 



Species more than 400 in all parts of the World, but chiefly tropical, 50 

 or more in the Philippines, 



1. Stems prostrate, simple to sparingly branched, less than 5 cm high. 



1. S. belangeri 

 1. Stems erect or suberect, copiously branched, mostly 10 to 15 cm high. 



2. Leaves of the lower plane about 3 mm long; spikes about 3 mm thick. 



2. S. myosuroides 



2. Leaves of the lower plane about 2 mm long; spikes about 2 mm thick. 

 ■V 3. S. barjbata 



1. S. belangeri (Bory) Spring. 



A slender, prostrate, trailing annual 5 cm long or less, often forked at 

 the base, pinnate, the suberect branches usually less than 4 cm high, 

 simple or little branched. Leaves of the lower plane below the tips of the 

 branches spaced, spreading, ovate, acute, about 2 mm long, pale-greeh, 

 membranaceous, inequilateral, cordate and ciliate at the base, imbricated 

 over the stem on the upper side, those toward the tips of the branches 

 densely arranged. Leaves of the upper plane about one-half as large, 

 ovate, acuminate, base cordate. Spikes about 1 cm long, 3 mm thick, the 

 smaller bracts in the same plane with the larger leaves, the bracts of the 

 upper plane as large as the leaves of the lower plane, closely imbricated, 

 ciliate, somewhat spreading. 



On damp cliffs, along streams and on banks of old rice paddies, San 

 Pedro Macati to Masambong, July-Dec; widely distributed in the Philip- 

 pines. India to Australia. 



