Sphagnum angustifolium |
Sphagnum affine |
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fine bogmoss, poor-fen peat-moss, sphagnum |
imbricate bogmoss, sphagnum |
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Habit | Plants small and often slender and soft, lax to compact, moderately stiff-stemmed; green to pale yellow to golden brown to brown; capitulum strongly convex in drier grown forms to strongly 5-radiate and flat in wetter growing forms. | Plants moderate-sized and lax to somewhat compact, ± stiff-stemmed; moderate-sized to large, forming lawns or low, loose hummocks; green, yellow-brown to golden brown and often tinged with brown to purplish brown; capitulum ± flat in lax open-grown forms to ± rounded and compact in open-grown forms. |
Stem(s) | leaves equilateral to isosceles-triangular, small, less than 0.8 mm, mostly appressed to stem, apex acute to obtuse, hyaline cells efibrillose and nonseptate. |
leaves to 1.3–1.9 × 0.6–1.2 mm; rarely hemiisophyllous; hyaline cells non-ornamented, nonseptate or sometimes septate. |
Branches | straight to slightly curved, usually 5-ranked; leaves not much longer at distal end than proximal end. |
± tapering, leaves loosely imbricate to spreading and often squarrose in shade forms. |
Branch leaves | narrowly ovate-lanceolate, 0.8–1 mm, straight, moderately undulate and recurved in larger and/or wetter grown forms, not undulate and slightly recurved in compact forms from drier sites; margins entire; hyaline cells on convex surface with 1(2–3) pore per cell at apical end of cell, on concave surface with round wall thinnings in cell ends and angles; chlorophyllous cells triangular in transverse section and just enclosed on concave surface. |
ovate to ovate elliptical, 1.5–2 × 0.9–1.6 mm; hyaline cells on convex surface with elliptic to more often round pores along the commissures, comb-lamellae can be present, but often absent or restricted to leaf bases; chlorophyllous cells broadly triangular in transverse section and well-enclosed on the convex surface; end wall not thickened. |
Sexual condition | dioicous. |
dioicous. |
Capsule | with scattered pseudostomata. |
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Spores | 21–25 µm; coarsely papillose on proximal and distal surfaces; proximal laesura more than 0.5 spore radius. |
27–31 µm; granulate on both surfaces; laesura on proximal surface less than 0.5 the spore radius. |
Branch | fascicles with 2 spreading and 2–3 pendent branches.; branch stems with cortex enlarged with conspicuous retort cells, often pinkish red at proximal end. |
fascicles with 2 spreading and 2–3 pendent branches.; branch stems with cortical cell comb-lamellae weakly differentiated on interior wall, no or weak funnel-like projections on the interior end walls, pores in superficial wall mostly restricted to leaf attachments. |
Sphagnum angustifolium |
Sphagnum affine |
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Phenology | Capsules fairly common, mature early to late summer. | |
Habitat | Wide range of habitats, from ombrotrophic to rich fens, open mires, sedge fens and muskeg, as carpets, floating mats, low hummocks and hummock sides | Widespread and often ruderal, wide variety of minerotrophic wetlands, especially abundant in forested mires |
Elevation | low to high elevations | low to moderate elevations |
Distribution |
AK; CA; CO; ID; IL; IN; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MT; NC; ND; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OR; PA; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NF; NS; NT; ON; QC; SK; YT; Greenland; Eurasia
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AL; AR; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IL; IN; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MO; MS; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; TN; TX; VA; VT; WV; NF; NS; PE; Europe
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Discussion | The sporophytes of Sphagnum angustifolium are somewhat common. This species is distinguished from similar ones in sect. Cuspidata by the small, triangular, obtuse and appressed stem leaves. It also often has a pink stem, as opposed to the reddish branch bases seen in some other species of the section. Sphagnum balticum has stem leaves that are more lingulate-triangular as well as spreading from the stem. Sphagnum angustifolium belongs to a subgroup within sect. Cuspidata usually referred to as S. recurvum, in the broad sense, a group of mostly carpet-forming species that differ from other members of the section in having pairs of pendent branch buds visible between the capitulum rays. The group also includes S. brevifolium, S. fallax, S. flexuosum, S. pacificum, S. recurvum, S. rubroflexuosum, and S. splendens. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Sphagnum affine may occur elsewhere but the taxonomy is unclear (K. I. Flatberg 1984). Although species of sect. Sphagnum are notoriously difficult to tell apart in the field, S. affine is typically smaller than S. centrale, S. palustre, and S. papillosum, the other brown species of this section with which it may occur. It is also much more likely to have somewhat squarrose branch leaves, especially in shade forms. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 27, p. 64. | FNA vol. 27, p. 49. |
Parent taxa | Sphagnaceae > Sphagnum > sect. Cuspidata | Sphagnaceae > Sphagnum > sect. Sphagnum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | S. recurvum var. angustifolium, S. amblyphyllum var. parvifolium, S. flexuosum var. tenue, S. parvifolium, S. recurvum var. parvifolium, S. recurvum var. tenue | S. imbricatum subsp. affine, S. imbricatum var. affine, S. imbricatum var. laeve |
Name authority | (Warnstorf) C. E. O. Jensen: Bih. Svenska Vetensk.-Akad. Handl. 16(9): 46. (1891) | Renauld & Cardot: Rev. Bryol. 12: 44. (1885) |
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