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

imbricate bogmoss, sphagnum

Habit 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. 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 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.

leaves to 1.3–1.9 × 0.6–1.2 mm; rarely hemiisophyllous;

hyaline cells non-ornamented, nonseptate or sometimes septate.

Branches

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

± tapering, leaves loosely imbricate to spreading and often squarrose in shade forms.

Branch leaves

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.

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.

Spores

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

proximal laesura less 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 1–2 pendent branches.

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 fuscum

Sphagnum affine

Phenology Capsules mature late summer. Capsules fairly common, mature early to late summer.
Habitat Mires, hummocks, fens Widespread and often ruderal, wide variety of minerotrophic wetlands, especially abundant in forested mires
Elevation low to high elevations low to moderate elevations
Distribution
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
[WildflowerSearch map]
from FNA
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
[WildflowerSearch map]
Discussion

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.)

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. 94. FNA vol. 27, p. 49.
Parent taxa Sphagnaceae > Sphagnum > sect. Acutifolia Sphagnaceae > Sphagnum > sect. Sphagnum
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. 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
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. 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
Synonyms S. acutifolium var. fuscum, S. tenuifolium, S. vancouveriense S. imbricatum subsp. affine, S. imbricatum var. affine, S. imbricatum var. laeve
Name authority (Schimper) H. Klinggraff: Schriften Phys.-Ökon. Ges. Konigsberg 13: 4. (1872) Renauld & Cardot: Rev. Bryol. 12: 44. (1885)
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