Palhinhaea maniculata (B. Øllg.) Øllgaard (2012: 11)

Øllgaard, Benjamin, 2020, Lycopodiaceae in Colombia: Subfamilies Lycopodioideae and Lycopodielloideae, Phytotaxa 433 (3), pp. 195-224 : 215

Palhinhaea maniculata (B. Øllg.) Øllgaard (2012: 11) .— Fig. 7 .

Lycopodiella maniculata Øllgaard (2004: 37) . Type:— ECUADOR: Napo: Road Tena–Baeza, km 52 from Tena , 77°52’W 0°41’S, 2000 m, Øllgaard 99013 (QCA holotype; AAU isotype).

Plants with long, robust, creeping and rooting runner shoots, bearing erect, dorsally arising, to ca 25 (–34) cm tall, sparsely branched, aerial, tree-like shoot systems, and several laterally arising, ascending branchlet systems; the first branch of the ascending, laterally arising shoot systems usually basiscopic and curved back, often parallel to the runner shoot; their central divisions often developed into new rooting runner shoots. Erect aerial shoot systems with few to several lateral strobiliferous branchlet systems; these subdecussate or upward alternate, to 3 times dichotomous, to 5 (–7) cm long, recurved. Leaves of main axes falcately ascending to loosely appressed, borne in irregular alternating whorls of 10–11, forming 20–22 indistinct longitudinal ranks, 4–5.5 × ca 0.8 mm. Ultimate vegetative branchlets (3.5–) 5 (–7) mm in diam. incl. leaves. Branchlet leaves borne in densely crowded alternating whorls of 5–7, forming 10–14 indistinct longitudinal ranks, acicular, terete to quadrangular, usually apically flattened, 3–4 (–5) × 0.3–0.7 mm, patent-ascending, strongly upward curved from a perpendicular base, softly herbaceous, glabrous. Leaf bases and stem surfaces glabrous. Strobili 10–30 mm long, 3–4 (–6) mm in diam. Sporophylls borne in alternating whorls of 5 to 6, forming 10–12 longitudinal ranks, with (2.5–) 3–4.5 × ca. 1 mm, lanceolate-ovate, long acuminate exterior face, with irregularly finely denticulate-erose, very narrowly membranous margins, greenish, of herbaceous texture throughout. Sporangia globose, ca. 1 mm in diam.

Chocó: Cerro del Torrá, filo de cumbre, vegetación abierta, 2700–2800 m elev., Siverstone-Sopkin 4653 (AAU).

Putumayo: Putumayo – 50 km al W de El Pepino, 2050m, Hagemann & Leist 1487 (COL).

Distribution: Andean Venezuela to Ecuador.

Habitats: The habitats where I have seen this species are nearly all on open, rocky and mossy road banks covered with reddish brown hepatics and mosses, on nutrient-poor rocks, in perhumid montane forest, at 2000—2800 m elev.

Notes: This species differs most obviously from the other Palhinhaea species in Ecuador by the wide- and flat creeping horizontal shoots with small, hand-like, ascending ramifications. The other species have shallowly to higharching-looping horizontal shoots. It occurs mainly on open, moist, rocky, mossy banks along roads, at elev. 2000– 2500 m. This species reminds of Palhinhaea pendulina with respect to branching and dimensions of shoots and leaves. The dorsally arising erect, aerial branch system has few short and sparsely branched strobiliferous lateral branchlet systems, shorter than in P. pendulina .

Figures

FIGURE 7. Palhinhaea maniculata (Ecuador: Øllgaard & Navarrete 98024, AAU) A: Growth habit (Ecuador: Øllgaard 2531, AAU). B. Creeping horizontal stem (Øllgaard 99912, AAU). C. Strobiliferous branchlet system (Ecuador: Øllgaard & Navarrete, 2531, AAU).