Sphagnum mirum |
Sphagnum microcarpum |
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Habit | Plants fairly slender to moderate-sized, green; forming low dense hummocks. | Plants small; green to light green, capitulum indistinct. |
Stem(s) | leaves generally longer than branch leaves, 1.1–1.7 mm, lingulate to lingulate-spathulate, hyaline cells mostly non-septate. |
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. |
Branches | terete. |
straight and short. |
Branch leaves | 1–1.4 mm, broadly ovate, with a narrow involute tip; hyaline cells only slightly bulging on either surface, in proximal half of leaf aporose on convex surface and with large faint pores on concave surface; internal commissural walls distinctly papillose; chlorophyllous cells elliptical to elliptical-triangular in transverse section, enclosed on both surfaces with the widest part in the leaf middle. |
ovate, 1.3–1.7 mm; hyaline cells on convex surface with 8–18 elliptic pores more than 8 µm, concave surface aporose. |
Sexual condition | dioicous. |
unknown. |
Capsule | not seen. |
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Spores | ca. 31 µm, ornamented by small somewhat amalgamated granulae. |
not seen. |
Branch | fascicles of 2 spreading and 1–2 hanging branches.; branch stems with 1–2 layers of cortical cells. |
fascicles nearly all with 2 spreading branch only. |
Sphagnum mirum |
Sphagnum microcarpum |
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Phenology | Sporophytes abundant, capsules mature August. | |
Habitat | Ecology poorly known but probably quite minerotrophic | Ruderal sites such as dessication-prone depressions, ditches, tire tracks, and natural depressions among tussocks |
Elevation | low elevations | low elevations |
Distribution |
AK |
FL; LA; NC |
Discussion | Sphagnum mirum has only been recently discovered and so far is known only from its type locality, where it was growing in a fen mixed with S. teres. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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.) |
Source | FNA vol. 27, p. 58. | FNA vol. 27, p. 82. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | S. microcarpum var. humile | |
Name authority | Flatberg & Thingsgaard: Bryologist 106: 501. (2003) | Warnstorf: Hedwigia 47: 94. (1907) |
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