Sphagnum microcarpum |
Sphagnum lindbergii |
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brown-stem peat-moss, Lindberg's sphagnum |
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Habit | Plants small; green to light green, capitulum indistinct. | Plants moderate-sized to large, moderately densely branched; green to brown, often bluish tinged and/or shiny when dry; capitulum flattopped with a conspicuous terminal bud. |
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-spatulate, large, 1.3–1.6 mm; appressed to stem; apex very broad and lacerate; hyaline cells efibrillose and aporose, often septate. |
Branches | straight and short. |
strongly 5-ranked and straight. |
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-lanceolate, 1.5–3 mm; straight to slightly subsecund; imbricate to somewhat reflexed and not undulate; margins entire; hyaline cells long and narrow, length to width ca. 10:1 on convex surface with 1 or more small pores in the cell ends and angles and often with numerous pseudopores along the margins, on concave surface with large round wall thinnings on the cell ends and angles; chlorophyllous cells triangular to trapezoidal in transverse section, apex often exposed on concave surface. |
Sexual condition | unknown. |
monoicous or dioicous. |
Capsule | not seen. |
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Spores | not seen. |
22–34 µm; both surfaces smooth, apparent ridged border on proximal surface; proximal laesura more than 0.5 spore radius. |
Branch | fascicles nearly all with 2 spreading branch only. |
fascicles with 2 spreading and 2 pendent branches, leaves not much elongated at distal end.; branch stems green, with cortex enlarged with retort cells. |
Sphagnum microcarpum |
Sphagnum lindbergii |
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Habitat | Ruderal sites such as dessication-prone depressions, ditches, tire tracks, and natural depressions among tussocks | Widespread forming carpets in ombrotrophic to weakly minerotrophic boreal mires |
Elevation | low elevations | low to high elevations |
Distribution |
FL; LA; NC |
AK; CO; NH; NY; WA; AB; BC; MB; NF; NS; NT; NU; ON; QC; YT; Greenland; Eurasia |
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 are uncommon. Sphagnum lindbergii is normally easily distinguished from other carpet-forming species of sect. Cuspidata by its large, strongly lacerate stem leaf and dark brown to black stem. Sexual condition is taken from from L. I. Savicz-Lubitzkaya and Z. N. Smirnova (1968). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 27, p. 82. | FNA vol. 27, p. 70. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | S. microcarpum var. humile | |
Name authority | Warnstorf: Hedwigia 47: 94. (1907) | Schimper: Öfvers. Kongl. Vetensk.-Akad. Förh. 14: 126. (1857) |
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