Selaginellaceae - Vietnam Plant Data Center (BVNGroup)

FAMILY

Scientific name: Selaginellaceae
English name:
Vietnamese name: Quyển bá
Other name:

DESCRIPTIONThe Selaginellaceae are terrestrial or epiphytic heterosporous, protostelic vascular plants comprising a single genus and about 700 species. The free-living sporophytic plant body is often somewhat dichotomously branching, consisting of a rhizome with adventitious roots, and an aerial portion with numerous, closely spaced, spirally disposed or 4-ranked and often dimorphic microphyllous leaves, each with a single vascular trace and each with a minute basal flap of tissue called a ligule. The fertile axis bears two kinds of sporangia. Megasporangia produce four large, megaspores that give rise to female gametophytes, and except for a small pad of tissue that bears archegonia, the entire gametophyte remains confined within the megaspore wall. Microsporangia produce hundreds of tiny microspores that give rise to male gametophytes, each bearing an antheridium contained within the wall of the microspore. Bursting of the microspore wall releases biflagellated sperm that must travel through a film of water in order to reach the egg of an archegonium of a nearby megagametophyte and initiate the zygote that may develop into a new sporophyte individual