Pseudolycopodiella contexta (Mart.) Holub (1991: 93)

Øllgaard, Benjamin, 2020, Lycopodiaceae in Colombia: Subfamilies Lycopodioideae and Lycopodielloideae, Phytotaxa 433 (3), pp. 195-224 : 220

Pseudolycopodiella contexta (Mart.) Holub (1991: 93) .— Fig. 4C .

Lycopodium contextum Martius (1834: 38) .— Lycopodium alopecuroides L. var. contextum (Martius) Baker (1887: 19) .— Lepidotis contexta (Martius) Rothmaler (1944: 66) .— Lycopodiella contexta (Mart.) Holub (1983: 441) . Type:— COLOMBIA?: In campis graminosis apricis in summo monte Arara-Coára, fluvii Japura cataractae imminente, ca. 360m, Martius s. n. (M holotype!).

Lycopodium sprucei Baker (1887: 24) . Type : VENEZUELA: San Carlos del Rio Negro, Spruce 3151 (holotype, K; isotype, BONN, frag. Herb. Nessel 200! p. p.).

Horizontal shoots closely appressed to the ground, to at least 30 cm long, rooted with short intervals, sparsely branched in the horizontal plane, bearing stiffly erect, dorsally arising, simple, or sometimes 1–2 times forked, to at least 40 cm tall, vegetative or strobiliferous aerial shoots. Horizontal shoots densely covered on all sides by uniform leaves, 3–7 mm in diam incl. leaves, stems excl. leaves 1–2.5 mm thick. Leaves of horizontal shoots uniform, somewhat upward secund, ascending, acicular. Aerial shoots 4–6 mm in diam. incl. leaves, densely foliose, with radially arranged, uniform leaves. Leaves of aerial shoots borne in alternating low spirals or irregular whorls of 6–7, these 0.8–1.5 (–2) mm apart, forming 12–14 indistinct longitudinal ranks, terete at the base (or angular when dried), upward sometimes flattened, strongly upward curved from a strongly diverging to almost perpendicular base, 4–5 (–7) × ca. 0.5 mm, with conspicuously acroscopically adnate and long decurrent leaf bases, with smooth margins. Strobili to 8 cm long, 3–4 mm in diam. with appressed sporophylls, to 12 mm with distended sporophylls. Sporophylls borne in alternating whorls of 4–5, forming 8–10 longitudinal ranks, subpeltate, with a basiscopic, compressed membranous wing on the stalk, the exterior face with broadly triangular-ovate to ovate-lanceolate base and a long, narrow apex, 4.5–7 × 1–1.5 mm, with subentire to slightly erose-dentate margins at the base. Sporangia borne on the sporophyll base, reniform, isovalvate, 1–1.5 mm wide.

Distribution: Circum-Amazonian, Amazonian lowland of Brazil, Venezuela, Guyana, Colombia, and Peru.

Habitats: Terrestrial, humid places on white sand, grasslands and river margins, 250–500 m elev. In Brazil to 1750 m elev.

Amazonas: Airport of Araracuara, W side, Idrobo 8972 (COL). Casa de Orosco, Trapecio, Schultes & Black 46- 343 ( US). Río Apaporis, cachivera de Jirijirimo and surroundings, 250 m, Schultes & Cabrera 12379 (COL, GH, US). Río Cahuinarí, 500 m, 10.8 km from the mouth of the Cahuinarí in direction 270°, south side, Duivenvoorden et al. 56 (U p.p.). Caquetá: Araracuara, sandstone plain near airport, 72°24’W 0°37’S, Duivenvoorden, et al. 204, 234 (AAU).

Vaupes: Río Macú–Paraná (tributary of Río Papurí), Allen 3032 (COL, MO). Río Piriparaná (tributary of Apaporis), savanna of Caño Teemeena, 0°15’N 70°30’W, Schultes & Cabrera 17474 (GH, NY, US). Rio Negro, near Piedra de Cocui, Schultes & López 9506 (K, UC, US). Near Mitú, along Río Vaupés at Circasia, Zarucchi 2105 (GH).

Figures

FIGURE 4.A: Lycopodiella matthewsii (Ecuador: Holm-Nielsen et al. 4839, AAU), growth habit.A1: Vegetative leaf.A2-3: Sporophylls, back- and side-view. B: Lycopodiella andicola (Ecuador: Asplund 19353, S), Growth habit. B1: Close-up of strobiliferous branch with leaf whorls. B2: Sporophyll. C1. Pseudolycopodiella contexta (Peru: Foster 4102, AAU), growth habit. C2. Close-up of creeping shoot. C3: Growth habit of aerial branch. C4: Close-up of strobiliferous branch. C5: Close-up of strobilus.