Sphagnum capillifolium |
Sphagnum beothuk |
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common red peat-moss, small red peat moss, sphagnum |
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Habit | Plants small to moderate-sized, compact to fairly slender, normally stiff and erect; capitulum typically hemispherical; in exposed sites red, mottled red and green, in shaded sites green forms are common; without metallic lustre when dry. | Plants small to moderate-sized; capitulum rounded and dense; dark brown with a purplish sheen. |
Stem(s) | green to red; superficial cortical cells aporose Stem leaves lingulate-triangular, 1.2–1.6(–1.8) mm, apex ± involute; border entire and broadened to about 0.25 the width of the base; hyaline cells S-shaped, 0–1-septate, usually fibrillose in distal portion of leaf. |
brown, superficial cortical cells aporose.; stem leaves lingulate, 1.1–1.2 mm, apex slightly apiculate to mostly broad and erose to lacerate, border only slightly broadened at base; hyaline cells rhomboid and 0–1-septate. |
Branches | not 5-ranked, terete. |
more or less 5-ranked. |
Branch leaves | ovate-lanceolate, 1–1.4 mm, imbricate to moderately spreading, concave, straight, strongly involute near apex; hyaline cells on convex surface with elliptic pores along commissures, concave surface with large round pores away from commissures in proximal portions of leaf. |
0.95–1.3 mm, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, concave, straight to slightly subsecund, apex involute; hyaline cells on convex surface with numerous surface with numerous round to elliptic pores along the commissures, grading from large pores at the base to a mixture of small and tiny (2 µm) at the apex, concave surface with a few large, round pores/cell in lower side regions. |
Sexual condition | dioicous. |
unknown. |
Spores | 20–28 µm; finely papillose on both surfaces, with distinct raised Y-shaped sculpture on distal surface; proximal laesura 0.5 spore radius or more. |
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Branch | fascicles with 2 spreading and 1–2 pendent branches. |
fascicles with 2 spreading and 1 pendent branch. |
Sphagnum capillifolium |
Sphagnum beothuk |
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Phenology | Capsules mature mid summer. | |
Habitat | Ombrotrophic, broad range of acidic environments, also forming dense mats and carpets over wet, acidic rocks and peat, especially at higher elevations, less frequent in forested fen vegetation | Forming dense hummocks in minerotrophic peatlands |
Elevation | low to high elevations | moderate elevations |
Distribution |
AK; CA; CT; ID; IL; IN; KY; MA; ME; MI; MN; MT; OH; OR; PA; RI; SD; TN; VA; VT; WA; WV; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NF; NS; NT; NU; ON; PE; QC; SK; YT; Greenland; Europe
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NF |
Discussion | Sporophytes are fairly common in Sphagnum capillifolium. This species is most common and abundant in ombrotrophic heath vegetation associated with S. angustifolium, S. fallax, S. fuscum, S. magellanicum, S. rubellum, Polytrichum commune, and P. juniperinum. It can be distinguished from most other red species of sect. Acutifolia with which it co-occurs by its lack of 5-ranking in the branches. Sphagnum subtile is a forest and non-hummock forming species that has a distinctly shorter and more triangular-lingulate stem leaf. The stem leaf border on S. subtile is also more strongly bordered. Sphagnum tenerum, which geographically overlaps S. capillifolium only very minimally, has much more turgid branches and a generally more robust look. The stem leaf of S. tenerum is triangular-lingulate as compared to the lingulate- triangular stem leaf of S. capillifolium. See also discussion under 84. S. subnitens and 87. S. tenerum. The names Sphagnum acutifolium Schrader and S. nemoreum Scopoli (doubtful name) have also been used for this taxon. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 27, p. 91. | FNA vol. 27, p. 90. |
Parent taxa | Sphagnaceae > Sphagnum > sect. Acutifolia | Sphagnaceae > Sphagnum > sect. Acutifolia |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | S. palustre var. capillifolium, S. capillaceum, S. capillifolium var. viride, S. margaritae | |
Name authority | (Ehrhart) Hedwig: Fund. Hist. Nat. Musc. Frond. 2: 86. (1782) | R. E. Andrus: Sida 22: 966, figs. 21–26. (2006) |
Web links |