A New Name for a Hybrid Bog Clubmoss from the Southeastern United States

Abstract

A previously unnamed hybrid between Lycopodiella alopecuroides (L.) Cranfill and L. prostrata (R.M. Harper) Cranfill is formally described as L. × shortii D.D. Spaulding. The specific epithet honors pteridologist John W. Short, whose contributions to the study of Alabama ferns and lycophytes span over five decades. This hybrid displays an intermediate morphology, combining traits of both parental species. It is currently known from scattered populations in the southeastern United States, primarily within the Coastal Plain from Florida to Texas and north to North Carolina.