Sphagnum microcarpum |
Sphagnum angermanicum |
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angerman's sphagnum |
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Habit | Plants small; green to light green, capitulum indistinct. | Plants moderate-sized, soft and lax, capitulum large with head branches that are typically distinctively blunt and transversely flattened; usually pale green with a weak purplish coloration evident late in the growing season, often with a weak metallic luster when dry. |
Stem(s) | leaves isophyllous, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, 2.2–2.8 mm; apex rounded; hyaline cells nonseptate, convex surface with 6–12 pores per cell along commissures, concave surface aporose. |
leaves lingulate to spatulate, widest above middle (1.5 times as wide as the base), 1.5–2.5 mm, apex obtuse and dentate to lacerate; border entire and little broadened at base, hyaline cells elongated-rhomboid, normally 1-septate, strongly fibrillose in distal portion, convex surface with numerous large pores and resorption gaps in apical angles, concave surface with large resorption gaps below and large resorption pores above. |
Branches | straight and short. |
unranked, terete. |
Branch leaves | ovate, 1.3–1.7 mm; hyaline cells on convex surface with 8–18 elliptic pores more than 8 µm, concave surface aporose. |
ovate, 1.3–2.5 mm, straight, not concave; apex weakly involute, broadly truncate with 6–10 conspicuous teeth; border entire; hyaline cells on convex surface with elliptic pores (4–8 per cell) along the commissures, concave surface with large round pores in distal half and proximal portion of cells. |
Sexual condition | unknown. |
dioicous. |
Capsule | not seen. |
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Spores | not seen. |
26–34 µm; finely granulose-roughened. |
Branch | fascicles nearly all with 2 spreading branch only. |
fascicles with 2 spreading and 1–2 pendent branches. |
Sphagnum microcarpum |
Sphagnum angermanicum |
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Habitat | Ruderal sites such as dessication-prone depressions, ditches, tire tracks, and natural depressions among tussocks | Minerotrophic, hydrophytic |
Elevation | low elevations | low to moderate elevations |
Distribution |
FL; LA; NC |
MA; ME; NH; NJ; NY; NB; NF; NS; QC; Europe |
Discussion | Sporophytes are rare in Sphagnum microcarpum, which grows over bare soil in a manner similar to that of S. cyclophyllum and S. fitzgeraldii. It is now recognized as separate from S. cyclophyllum, with which it has been treated as synonymous in the past. Besides the microscopic differences, S. microcarpum has a compact upright growth form quite unlike that of typical S. cyclophyllum. Sphagnum microcarpum is nearly always branched whereas S. cyclophyllum is nearly always simplex. The name Sphagnum mobilense Warnstorf also has been applied to this taxon. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Sporophytes of Sphagnum angermanicum are rare. This is a species associated with typically poor fen species such as S. flavicomans, S. bartlettianum, S. papillosum, S. pulchrum, and S. rubellum. It is usually easily recognized by its pale color and blunt, short and flattened capitulum branches, and also is limited to wetter microsites than most species of sect. Acutifolia and rarely forms hummocks. Spore characters are taken from H. A. Crum (1984). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 27, p. 82. | FNA vol. 27, p. 89. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | S. microcarpum var. humile | S. nemoreum var. angermanicum |
Name authority | Warnstorf: Hedwigia 47: 94. (1907) | Melin: Svensk Bot. Tidskr. 13: 21. (1919) |
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