Phlegmariurus sphagnicola B. Øllg., 2016

Øllgaard, Benjamin, 2016, New neotropical Lycopodiaceae, Phytotaxa 277 (3), pp. 266-274 : 270-272

Phlegmariurus sphagnicola B. Øllg. , sp. nov. — Fig. 4

This species belongs to the group of Phlegmariurus crassus (Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willdenow 1810: 50) Øllgaard (2012:13) , but differs from other members of that group by its slender and delicate growth habit, sparse branching and lack of creeping-ascending juvenating or subterranean, rooting shoots, and by the completely smooth, lustrous leaves, and lack of red coloration.

Type: — COLOMBIA. Magdalena: Sierra de Perijá , E of Manaure, Sabana Rubia, 3000–3100 m, 6–8 November 1959, Cuatrecasas, J. & Romero-Castañeda, R. 25036 (holotype COL) .

Terrestrial, erect, forming loose clumps of sparsely branched (paludicolous?) individuals, to twice ramified, to at least 35 cm tall. Shoots homophyllous and equally thick throughout or slightly tapering upward, 8–15 mm in diameter including leaves near the base, sporangiate from 10–15 cm above the base and upward. Stems excluding leaves 1.2–2 mm thick at the base, sometimes slightly tapering upward nearly completely concealed by the leaves. Leaves borne in irregular, alternating whorls of 6 to 8, these 1–1.5 mm apart, forming 12–16 indistinct longitudinal ranks, densely crowded, ascending or usually appressed, spreading in shaded shoots and in parts covered by sphagnum, almost straight to slightly upward curved at leaf apex, linear-lanceolate to linear, 7–9 × 0.8–1 mm in basal divisions, upward often reduced to 4–6 × 0.5–0.8 mm, adaxially concave or flat, with slightly prominent vein, abaxially rounded (or with a median ridge, dried) with slightly prominent, long decurrent basal swelling (air cavity), amphistomatic, with smooth, narrowly sclerified margins, lustrous. Sporangia 1.0– 1.3 mm wide, spores normal.

Distribution:— Colombia, known only from the type collection.

Habitat:—Known only from Sphagnum bog in páramo, 3000–3100 m. Judging from the slender, etiolated, to 12 cm long basal divisions these plants, they have initially elongated at the speed of the growth Sphagnum cushion before developing the aerial shoots.

Figures

FIGURE 4. Phlegmariurus sphagnicola.A.Growth habit.B.Young individual with slender basal part.(Cuatrecasas & Romero-Castañeda 25036, holotype COL)