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common brown peat-moss, rusty bogmoss, rusty peat moss, sphagnum

Habit Plants green, light brown to brown. Plants small and slender, stiff and usually compact, capitulum small and flat-topped; typically deep reddish brown, also greenish brown in shaded habitats and in early seasonal growth, without metallic lustre when dry.
Stem(s)

leaves lingulate, 0.8–1.3 mm;

apex broadly rounded and entire to lacerate, sometimes slightly mucronate or slightly denticulate;

hyaline cells rhombic, 0–1(–2)-septate, usually efibrillose.

Branches

long and slender to short and compact, unranked to 5-ranked.

Branch leaves

ovate-ligulate, apex broad, rounded, and truncate, hyaline cells with 20–40 small (less than 0.25 cell diameter) in mostly 2 rows.

ovate-lanceolate, 1.1–1.3 mm, straight, concave, apex strongly involute;

margins entire, hyaline cells on convex surface with round to elliptic pores along the commissures, grading from small pores near the leaf apex to large pores near the base, concave surface with large round pores in proximal marginal regions of leaf.

Sexual condition

dioicous.

Spores

17–30 µm, finely papillose on proximal surface and pusticulate on distal surface;

proximal laesura less than 0.5 spore radius.

Branch

fascicles with 2 spreading and 1–2 pendent branches.

Sphagnum cribrosum

Sphagnum fuscum

Phenology Capsules mature late summer.
Habitat Floating or stranded at margins of shallow acidic lakes and ponds Mires, hummocks, fens
Elevation low elevations low to high elevations
Distribution
from FNA
FL; GA; MD; NC; SC
from FNA
AK; CA; CO; CT; ID; IL; IN; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MT; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OR; PA; RI; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NF; NS; NT; NU; ON; PE; QC; SK; YT; Greenland; Eurasia
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Discussion

Besides having different branch leaf porosity, Sphagnum cribrosum is usually distinguishable from the closely related S. macrophyllum by its paler brown color and distinctly broader and more truncate branch leaves. “Wave forms” of both S. cribrosum and S. macrophyllum, seemingly developed in response to growing in shallow water where wave action is common, can have very odd phenotypes that may look more like Fontinalis than Sphagnum.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Sphagnum fuscum is common in ombrotrophic mires and alpine mountain summits where it may form small to large hummocks to 1 m in height, more infrequently in weakly minerotrophic mires and richer fens.

Sporophytes are common in Sphagnum fuscum, which is associated with S. angustifolium, S. fallax, S. magellanicum, S. papillosum, and more infrequently with S. teres, and S. warnstorfii in richer sites. Very widespread but generally easily recognized, it is the only small brown hummock-forming species of sect. Acutifolia over most of its range. There are some significant variations in this species. The stem leaves can vary from having a rounded, entire apex to having a somewhat flat and lacerate apex. The branches also vary from being unranked and slender to 5-ranked and blunt. The color also can vary from a light to a dark brown. There does not seem, however, to be any consistent pattern to these variations and thus no taxonomic recognition has been given to them. See also discussion under 73. S. flavicomans.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 27, p. 61. FNA vol. 27, p. 94.
Parent taxa Sphagnaceae > Sphagnum > sect. Isocladus Sphagnaceae > Sphagnum > sect. Acutifolia
Sibling taxa
S. affine, S. alaskense, S. andersonianum, S. angermanicum, S. angustifolium, S. annulatum, S. aongstroemii, S. arcticum, S. atlanticum, S. austinii, S. balticum, S. bartlettianum, S. beothuk, S. bergianum, S. brevifolium, S. capillifolium, S. carolinianum, S. centrale, S. compactum, S. contortum, S. cuspidatum, S. cyclophyllum, S. fallax, S. fimbriatum, S. fitzgeraldii, S. flavicomans, S. flexuosum, S. fuscum, S. girgensohnii, S. henryense, S. imbricatum, S. inexspectatum, S. inundatum, S. isoviitae, S. jensenii, S. junghuhnianum, S. kenaiense, S. lenense, S. lescurii, S. lindbergii, S. macrophyllum, S. magellanicum, S. majus, S. mcqueenii, S. mendocinum, S. microcarpum, S. mirum, S. mississippiense, S. molle, S. obtusum, S. oregonense, S. orientale, S. pacificum, S. palustre, S. papillosum, S. perfoliatum, S. perichaetiale, S. platyphyllum, S. portoricense, S. pulchrum, S. pylaesii, S. quinquefarium, S. recurvum, S. riparium, S. rubellum, S. rubiginosum, S. rubroflexuosum, S. russowii, S. sitchense, S. splendens, S. squarrosum, S. steerei, S. strictum, S. subfulvum, S. subnitens, S. subsecundum, S. subtile, S. talbotianum, S. tenellum, S. tenerum, S. teres, S. torreyanum, S. trinitense, S. tundrae, S. viride, S. warnstorfii, S. wilfii, S. wulfianum
S. affine, S. alaskense, S. andersonianum, S. angermanicum, S. angustifolium, S. annulatum, S. aongstroemii, S. arcticum, S. atlanticum, S. austinii, S. balticum, S. bartlettianum, S. beothuk, S. bergianum, S. brevifolium, S. capillifolium, S. carolinianum, S. centrale, S. compactum, S. contortum, S. cribrosum, S. cuspidatum, S. cyclophyllum, S. fallax, S. fimbriatum, S. fitzgeraldii, S. flavicomans, S. flexuosum, S. girgensohnii, S. henryense, S. imbricatum, S. inexspectatum, S. inundatum, S. isoviitae, S. jensenii, S. junghuhnianum, S. kenaiense, S. lenense, S. lescurii, S. lindbergii, S. macrophyllum, S. magellanicum, S. majus, S. mcqueenii, S. mendocinum, S. microcarpum, S. mirum, S. mississippiense, S. molle, S. obtusum, S. oregonense, S. orientale, S. pacificum, S. palustre, S. papillosum, S. perfoliatum, S. perichaetiale, S. platyphyllum, S. portoricense, S. pulchrum, S. pylaesii, S. quinquefarium, S. recurvum, S. riparium, S. rubellum, S. rubiginosum, S. rubroflexuosum, S. russowii, S. sitchense, S. splendens, S. squarrosum, S. steerei, S. strictum, S. subfulvum, S. subnitens, S. subsecundum, S. subtile, S. talbotianum, S. tenellum, S. tenerum, S. teres, S. torreyanum, S. trinitense, S. tundrae, S. viride, S. warnstorfii, S. wilfii, S. wulfianum
Synonyms S. floridanum, S. macrophyllum var. floridanum S. acutifolium var. fuscum, S. tenuifolium, S. vancouveriense
Name authority Lindberg: Eur. Hvitmoss., 74. (1882) (Schimper) H. Klinggraff: Schriften Phys.-Ökon. Ges. Konigsberg 13: 4. (1872)
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