Sphagnum mississippiense
Sphagnum annulatum
Mississippi sphagnum
sphagnum
leaves elongate-triangular, 1.3–1.5 mm; often spreading;
apex obtuse;
hyaline cells mostly efibrillose and 1–septate in proximal half and lateral portions of leaves.
leaves lingulate-triangular to triangular-lingulate, equal to or less than 1.2 mm, more or less spreading;
apex obtuse;
hyaline cells mostly fibrillose and nonseptate.
unranked, often blunt and with leaves moderately elongated at distal end.
straight to distinctly curved, leaves becoming substantially longer at distal end of the branch.
ovate to broadly ovate at branch base and becoming ovate-lanceolate at branch tip; 1.2–1.5 mm; undulate when dry, margins serrulate;
hyaline cells of convex surface with 0–5 pores or pseudopores at cell apex, concave surface with faint round wall thinnings in cell angles, but may be absent, chlorophyllous cells trapezoidal in transverse section, exposed more broadly on convex surface.
ovate-lanceolate, 1.5–2 mm, straight to slightly subsecund, only slightly undulate and recurved if at all;
margin entire;
hyaline cells on convex surface with numerous small free pores, on concave surface with numerous round free pores, cells relatively short in basal region (similar to mid region); chlorophyllous cells ± triangular in transverse section, just reaching concave surface or slightly enclosed.
probably dioicous.
dioicous.
not seen.
25–32 µm, finely papillose on both surfaces.
fascicles with 2–3 spreading and 0–2 pendent branches.;
branch stems green, with cortex enlarged with conspicuous retort cells.
fascicles with 2 spreading and 1–2 pendent branches.;
branch stems green, with cortex enlarged with conspicuous retort cells.
Sphagnum mississippiense
Sphagnum annulatum
Sporophytes of Sphagnum mississippiense are unknown. The combination of broad branch leaves and obtuse stem leaves will distinguish it from S. cuspidatum and S. viride. The much commoner and more wide-ranging S. trinitense, although also having serrulate branch leaves, has much narrower branch leaves that are more elongate at the branch tips, becoming quite lanceolate as compared with the ovate-lanceolate branch leaves that S. mississippiense exhibits at its branch tips.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Sporophytes are rare in Sphagnum annulatum. Of the more wet-growing species, both S. cuspidatum and S. viride are typically much more green or yellow and have stem leaves with acute apices. Sphagnum jensenii is usually larger and has straight capitulum branches as opposed to the more curved branches of S. annulatum. Sphagnum majus normally has a denser and more rounded capitulum. Field experience in both Alaska and Scandanavia, where both species occur, does not support the view of H. A. Crum (1997) that S. annulatum and S. jensenii are simply ends of a continuum. Both species are usually readily separable in the field and look quite different in mixed populations. In North America at least S. annulatum is also considerably more widespread.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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