Palhinhaea cernua (L.) Vasc. & Franco (1967: 25)

Øllgaard, Benjamin & Testo, Weston, 2021, The Lycopodiaceae of Panamá, Phytotaxa 526 (1), pp. 1-66 : 52

. ­­­ Palhinhaea cernua (L.) Vasc. & Franco (1967: 25) . Fig. 22A

Lycopodium cernuum L. (1753: 1103) .— Lepidotis cernua (L.) Palisot (1805: 108) .— Lycopodiella cernua (L.) Pichi-Sermolli (1968: 165) . Type:—LINN 1257.13; see Proctor (1985: 29).

Lycopodium cernuum var. capillaceum Spring (1942: 80) .— Lycopodium capillaceum (Spring) Hieron. (1905: 573) .— Palhinhaea capillacea (Spring) Holub (1985: 78) .—Type:— VENEZUELA: Edo. Monagas, Guanaguana, Humboldt 473 (B-Herb. Willd. 19429 holotype).

Lycopodium cernuum L. var. panamense Nessel (1940: 173) . Type:— PANAMÁ: Central Panamá, Balboa, 1921, Powell s.n. (BONN-Nessel 354).

Plants with long, arching-looping runner shoots, rooting at long intervals, these bearing erect, dorsally arising, amply branched, to 1 m tall, tree-like shoots. Erect main axes bearing several, subdecussate to alternate, highly compound, spreading to horizontal, 5–15 (–20) cm long lateral branchlet systems. Ultimate branchlets nodding, 3–4 (–6) mm in diam. incl. leaves. Branchlet leaves usually borne in densely crowded, alternating whorls or low spirals of 3–5, forming 6–10 indistinct longitudinal ranks, usually 3–4 × ca 0.3 mm, acicular, terete to angular (dried), with often conspicuously acroscopically adnate, and decurrent leaf bases, gradually changing from patent-reflexed and distant on main axes, to patent, upward curved and densely crowded in ultimate branchlets, occasionally with sparse, lax hairs or minute spinules. Leaf bases often with longer, irregularly crisped or branched hairs, these rarely also on stem surfaces. Strobili usually numerous, sessile, terminating ultimate branchlets, 4–10 (–20) mm long, 2.5–3 mm in diam. Sporophylls usually borne in alternating whorls of 5, forming 10 longitudinal ranks, with coalescent leaf-bases almost enclosing the sporangia, with ovate-deltoid, short to long cuspidate, ca. 2 mm long, ca 1 mm wide exterior face, with membranous, coarsely erose-laciniate margins. Sporangia globose, 0.5–0.8 mm in diam.

Distribution:—Pantropic.

­­­ Habitats:—A common pioneer species throughout the humid regions of the country, on road cuts, landslides and moist disturbed soil, along rivers, in forest clearings etc., from sea level to 2700 m elev.

­­­ Notes:—A variable taxon, presumably mainly because of external factors. When Palhinhaea cernua grows in open, exposed habitats it has the typical growth habit with stiffly erect, tree-like aerial shoots; however, in shaded, moist habitats the aerial shoots may branch profusely, and may grow to more than 2 m long, becoming gradually overhanging or subscandent.

Selected­­­ specimens­­­ examined:— Bocas­­­del­­­Toro: Santa Catalina, on hill above coast, Blackwell et al. 2734 (PMA, photo UC). Bocas del Toro, Cobb s.n. (MICH). Parque Nacional Marino Isla Bastimentos, Polanco et al. 2366 (PMA). Canal­­­zone: 8 km NW of Gamboa, Nee 6639 (AAU). Barro Colorado Island, Barbour Estero, Schmalzel et al. 67 (AAU). Canal area, Pipeline Road, ca. 20 km N of Gamboa, Schmalzel & Moreno 1101 (UC). Roadside near Gamboa, Elmore I 2 (photo MICH). Road banks, Gamboa Navy Pipeline, Correa et al. 1695 (PMA). Chiriquí: Trail to Cerro Pate Macho, 1500 m, Schmalzel 1346 (AAU). Road to Cerro Pate Macho, 1500–1700 m, Stein et al. 1188 (AAU). Paraiso, Wagner 23 (M). Cerro Punta—Boquete, 1830–2600 m, Béliz 732 (PMA). Dist. Gualaca, Cerro Pata de Macho, 1200–1500 m, Aranda et al. 4089 (PMA). NW of Campamento Fortuna, 1000–1200 m, Correa et al. 2596 (MICH, PMA, VT). Fortuna, inicio del sendero Samudio, 1180 m, Florpan 6866 (AAU). Fortuna, road Quebrada Bonita to the north, Valdespino et al. 576 (MO, PMA, UC). Chiriquí /Bocas­­­del­­­Toro: trail along continental divide to ca. 3 km E of Cerro Pate Macho, 2000–2200 m, Smith et al. 2447 (PMA, UC). Coclé: Caribbean side of divide at El Copé, 200–400 m, Hamilton & Davidse 2631 (AAU, UC). Above El Copé, 1000 m, Miller et al. 835, 836 (AAU, UC). La Mesa del Valle de Antón, Correa et al. 4258 (PMA). Quebrada La Tabila, Toabré, 100 m, Mendieta 861, 859 (PMA). Dist. La Pintada, El Copé, Parque Nacional General de División Omar Torrijos Herrera, Vergara et al. 286 (PMA). Darien: 23 km SE of Jaqué, landslide into the Pacific, Garwood 1156 (PMA). Río Cocalito, Whitefoord & Eddy 158 (PMA). Colón: Santa Rita, near antenna, Florpan & Aguirre 6825 (AAU, PMA). María Chiquita, E of Río Piedras toward Portobelo, Dwyer & Kirkbride 7793 (photo UC). Costa Abajo, Poblado de Santa Rosa, Aizprua et al. 3028 (PMA). Mountains beyond La Pintanda 400–600 m, Hunter & Allen 603 (NY). Dist. Donoso, Area Minera Panamá, Camino Pionero, km 5, Ortiz et al. 987 (PMA). Los­­­Santos: El Cortezo—Tonosi, Filo de Marroquín, 1000 m, Rivera 403 (PMA). Panamá: El Llano–Carti road, Hamilton & Stockwell 1030 (MO). El Llano–Cartí, 400–500m, Huft & Knapp 1608 (AAU, PMA). Los Cascados, Taboga Island, Cornman 596 (UC). Cerro Jefe, 1000 m, Knapp 924 (AAU). Trail beyond Dexter’s, El Boquete, Cornman 1022 (UC). El Llani–Carti road, 900–1000 m, Sytsma 3106 (AAU). Cerro Jefe, 850–900 m, Sytsma & Antonio 2322 (AAU, PMA, UC). Altos de Pacora, 500–700 m, Windisch 2192 (AAU). SE slope of Cerro Campana, Lewis et al. 3143 (UC). Panama, Croat 25124 (U). Goofy Lake, Dwyer et al. 4130 (photo UC). San­­­Blas­­­(now Guna Yala): Comarca de San Blas, Cagandí, 20 m, Nevers et al. 5780 (AAU, PMA, UC). Río Cangandi, Pueblo Cangandi, camino entre el pueblo y el aeropuerto de Mandinga, 0–20 m, Herrera 228 (F). Veraguas: Base of Cerro Tute, Hamilton 1317 (AAU). Mouth of Río Concepción, Lewis 2843 (MO). Vicinity of Escuela Agricultura Alto Piedra, near Santa Fé, road at base of Cerro Tute, 900 m, Antonio 1911 (AAU, PMA). Mouth of Río Concepción, Lewis et al. 2843 (photo UC). Isla Coiba, Distrito de Montijo, Estación Biológica, norte de la isla, 0 m, Galdames 2008 (photo MA, PMA). Dist. Montijo, Isla Coiba, Arauz et al. 500 (PMA). Camino el Alto Cuvíbora, Rodríguez & Aguilar 107 (PMA).