Selaginella wurdackii Alston, 1981

Valdespino, Ivan A., 2015, Novelties in Selaginella (Selaginellaceae - Lycopodiophyta), with emphasis on Brazilian species, PhytoKeys 57, pp. 93-133 : 111

Selaginella wurdackii Alston

Selaginella wurdackii Alston, Bull. Brit. Mus. (Nat. Hist.), Bot. 9: 280. 1981. - Type. Venezuela. Bolivar: Chimantá Massif, Río Tirica, La Laja Base Camp, 485-490 m, J.A. Steyermark & J.J. Wurdack 173 (holotype: BM [BM000936544]-image!; isotypes: F!, NY! [NY00144232 (a)], US! [US00433011]).

Additional specimens examined.

VENEZUELA. Bolivar: near Salto de Pacairo, NE of Santa Teresita de Kavanayén, 1220 m, Steyermark 60499 (BM-n.v., F). BRAZIL. Amazonas: São Gabriel da Cachoeira, Parque Nacional do Pico da Neblina, trail to Pico Neblina, between Camp Bebedouro Velho and Bebedouro Novo, 00°44'13"N, 65°57'14"W, 26 Dec 2004, Carvalho et al. 233 (INPA-n.v., PMA).

Discussion.

Selaginella wurdackii was previously known only from Venezuela ( Alston et al. 1981, Smith 1995, Cremers et al. 2007, Mostacero 2008) and is reported here for the first time from Brazil. It is characterized by its ascending to erect habit with axillary rhizophores, median leaves ovate, narrowly ovate-deltate to ovate-lanceolate with prominent or keeled midribs that may be displaced (i.e., curved) to one side making the halves of the laminae unequal, leaf margins greenish to faintly hyaline, seemingly entire or denticulate along distal ½ and with long-acuminate to short-aristate apices, and lateral leaves ovate-elliptic with margins thickened and apices acute to short-acuminate.