Sphagnum capillifolium |
Sphagnum carolinianum |
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common red peat-moss, small red peat moss, sphagnum |
Carolina 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 moderate to large, erect to floating, green to dark brown; capitulum large, well defined and flat-topped. |
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. |
leaves lingulate to lingulate-triangular, 0.7–1.5 mm (to 3 mm in isophyllous forms), apex erose; hyaline cells mostly 1–septate but in a few cells with 2–3 parallel septations, efibrillose to fibrillose throughout, pores present in hemiisophyllous and isophyllous forms. |
Branches | not 5-ranked, terete. |
straight to somewhat curved, with spreading leaves. |
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. |
variable, broadly ovate to ovate-lanceolate, 1.3–5 mm; straight, hyaline cells on the convex surface with 4–8 µm round to elliptic pores in nearly continuous rows along the commissures, the concave surface aporose or with some porosity as on the convex surface. |
Sexual condition | dioicous. |
unknown. |
Capsule | not seen. |
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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. |
not seen. |
Branch | fascicles with 2 spreading and 1–2 pendent branches. |
fascicles with 2 spreading and 2 pendent in emergent forms, these reduced in aquatic forms to 2 per fascicle. |
Sphagnum capillifolium |
Sphagnum carolinianum |
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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 wet often floating carpets in pools in weakly minerotrophic mires |
Elevation | low to high elevations | low to 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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AL; DE; FL; GA; LA; MA; ME; MO; MS; NC; NJ; NY; SC; TN; TX; VA; 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.) |
The sporophytes of Sphagnum carolinianum are unknown. In its apparent restriction to the coastal plain, this species is most similar distributionally to such species as S. macrophyllum, S. fitzgeraldii, and S. tenerum. When forming carpets, S. carolinianum macrospically most resembles S. atlanticum but its branch leaves are not as elongate as those of the latter and its stem leaves have a much more obtuse apex. When growing aquatically, S. caroliniaum can resemble S. cribrosum, but in the latter species the hanging branches are not different from the spreading branches and may even be lacking. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 27, p. 91. | FNA vol. 27, p. 79. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | S. palustre var. capillifolium, S. capillaceum, S. capillifolium var. viride, S. margaritae | S. subsecundum var. carolinianum |
Name authority | (Ehrhart) Hedwig: Fund. Hist. Nat. Musc. Frond. 2: 86. (1782) | R. E. Andrus: Bryologist 86: 257, figs. (1983) |
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