Flora of North America species comparison

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Sphagnum macrophyllum

Sphagnum isoviitae

largeleaf sphagnum
Habit Plants brown, dark brown to nearly black. Plants moderate-sized and moderately weak-stemmed to moderately stiff; green, brownish green to brown; capitulum flat-topped and 5-radiate, terminal bud often visible.
Stem(s)

leaves triangular to lingulate-triangular, equal to or more than 0.8 mm, spreading to appressed;

apex acute to apiculate, hyaline cells mostly efibrillose and nonseptate.
Branches

± straight and somewhat tapered, usually 5-ranked, leaves not greatly elongated at branch distal end.
Branch leaves

lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, apex narrow and tubular, hyaline cells with 8–12 moderate-sized (more than 0.25 cell diameter) in mostly one row.

narrowly ovate-lanceolate, greater than 1.2 mm, straight, slightly undulate and weakly recurved when dry, margins entire;

hyaline cells on convex surface with 1 pore per cell in apical end, on concave surface with round wall thinnings in the cell ends and angles; chlorophyllous cells in transverse section triangular to ovate-triangular and well-enclosed on the concave surface.
Sexual condition

dioicous.
Spores

24–33 µm; finely papillose on the superficial surface.
Branch

fascicles with 2 spreading and 2–3 pendent branches.;

branch stems green and often reddish at proximal end, with cortex enlarged with conspicuous retort cells.

Sphagnum macrophyllum

Sphagnum isoviitae
Habitat Floating or stranded at margins of shallow lakes and ponds, rarely in seeps where probably constantly wet Forming carpets in a wide variety of poor to medium fen habitats of both mire edge and mire wide character, not found in ombrotrophic mires
Elevation low to moderate elevations low to moderate elevations
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; DE; FL; GA; LA; MD; MS; NC; NJ; NY; SC; TN; TX; VA; NF; NS
[WildflowerSearch map]
from FNA
CT; IN; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; PA; VA; VT; WV; AB; NF; NS; QC; Europe
Discussion

Sporophytes are uncommon in Sphagnum isoviitae. See discussion under 26. S. brevifolium and 28. S. fallax for distinction from these similar species. Sphagnum isoviitae has no range overlap with S. pacificum, the other North American species of the S. recurvum complex with apiculate stem leaves; the sharply recurved branch leaves of the latter, however, would separate it easily in any case. Spore features are those given by Flatberg.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 27, p. 61. FNA vol. 27, p. 68.
Parent taxa Sphagnaceae > Sphagnum > sect. Isocladus Sphagnaceae > Sphagnum > sect. Cuspidata
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. 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. 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. fuscum, S. girgensohnii, S. henryense, S. imbricatum, S. inexspectatum, S. inundatum, 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 Isocladus macrophyllus, S. macrophyllum var. burinense
Name authority Bridel: Bryol. Univ. 1: 10. (1826) Flatberg: J. Bryol. 17: 2, figs. 1, 2. (1992)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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