Sphagnum cuspidatum |
Sphagnum sitchense |
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feathery bog-moss, feathery peat-moss, tooth sphagnum |
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Habit | Plants slender and weak-stemmed, moderate-sized, flaccid and plumose in aquatic forms to more compact in emergent forms, spreading branches often conspicuously falcate, giving capitulum a twisted appearance; green to yellow, often tinged with red, red-brown or brown in capitula. | Plants moderate-sized; capitulum flat-topped and dense; pale yellow and pink, lacking sheen. |
Stem(s) | leaves triangular-ovate, more than 1.2 mm, usually appressed; apex acute to apiculate, hyaline cells rarely septate or porose, apical region often fibrillose. |
pink, superficial cortical cells aporose.; stem leaves narrowly triangular to lingulate- triangular, 1.2–1.6 × 0.6–0.8 mm, length: width ratio ca. 2:1, apex apiculate, border strong and moderately broadened basally; hyaline cells narrowly rhomboid and 1 to occasionally 2 septate, often fibrillose apically. |
Branches | mostly unranked to weakly 5-ranked, often conspicuously falcate, leaves greatly elongated at distal end. |
not 5-ranked. |
Branch leaves | ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate, 1.6–5 mm, falcate toward branch tips, when dry often undulate and recurved, rarely weakly serrulate along the margins in submerged forms, leaves from middle of spreading branches with length to width ratio less than or equal to 1:0.28; hyaline cells length to width ratio in apical convex surface region 8:1 or more, convex surface with 0–1 small round pores at apex, concave surface with faint round wall thinnings in cell apices and angles; chlorophyllous cells triangular to trapezoidal in transverse section, broadly exposed on the convex surface and exposed slightly on the concave surface. |
1.3–1.5 × 0.5–0.55 mm, ovate-lanceolate, concave, straight, apex involute; hyaline cells on convex surface with numerous round to elliptic pores along the commissures, grading from large elliptical pores at the base to moderate-sized round pores at the apex, concave surface with a few large round pores scattered throughout. |
Sexual condition | dioicous. |
unknown. |
Spores | 29–38 µm; covered with large papillae on both surfaces, appearing pusticulate; proximal laesura less than 0.5 spore radius. |
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Branch | fascicles with 2 spreading and 2–3 pendent branches.; branch stems green, but often pinkish at the proximal ends, with cortex enlarged with conspicuous retort cells. |
fascicles with 2 spreading and 1 pendent branch. |
Sphagnum cuspidatum |
Sphagnum sitchense |
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Habitat | Widespread forming wet carpets in ombrotrophic to weakly minerotrophic mires | Known only from type locality where it was forming low dense hummocks in alpine tundra |
Elevation | low to moderate elevations | moderate elevations |
Distribution |
AL; CT; DE; FL; GA; IL; IN; KS; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MS; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; PA; RI; SC; TN; VA; VT; WI; WV; NB; NF; NS; ON; QC; Europe
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AK |
Discussion | Distinguishing Sphagnum cuspidatum from S. viride is sometimes difficult, as both occur over a similar geographic range and both grow in wet carpets. Sphagnum cuspidatum has narrower branch leaves and usually a distinct red tinge at the branch bases within the capitulum. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 27, p. 66. | FNA vol. 27, p. 98. |
Parent taxa | Sphagnaceae > Sphagnum > sect. Cuspidata | Sphagnaceae > Sphagnum > sect. Acutifolia |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | S. cuspidatum var. plumosum, S. faxonii, S. virginianum | |
Name authority | Hoffman: Deutschl. Fl. 2: 22. (1796) | R. E. Andrus: Sida 22: 969, figs. 27–34. (2006) |
Web links |