Sphagnum portoricense |
Sphagnum fuscum |
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puerto rico sphagnum |
common brown peat-moss, rusty bogmoss, rusty peat moss, sphagnum |
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Habit | Plants moderate-sized to often quite robust, ± weak-stemmed, lax; green, bluish green, green and brown to dark golden brown, often speckled in appearance; found submerged in shallow water, stranded along shore lines in loose carpets. | Plants small and slender, stiff and usually compact, capitulum small and flat-topped; typically deep reddish brown, also greenish brown in shaded habitats and in early seasonal growth, without metallic lustre when dry. |
Stem(s) | leaves 1.1 × 1 mm; rarely hemiisophyllous; hyaline cells non-ornamented, frequently septate. |
leaves lingulate, 0.8–1.3 mm; apex broadly rounded and entire to lacerate, sometimes slightly mucronate or slightly denticulate; hyaline cells rhombic, 0–1(–2)-septate, usually efibrillose. |
Branches | clavate and rounded at distal end. |
long and slender to short and compact, unranked to 5-ranked. |
Branch leaves | broadly ovate, 2.4 × 1.7 mm; hyaline cells on convex surface with numerous round pores along the commissures, comb-lamellae on hyaline cell walls where overlying chlorophyllous cells; chlorophyllous cells broadly triangular in transverse section and well-enclosed on the convex surface. |
ovate-lanceolate, 1.1–1.3 mm, straight, concave, apex strongly involute; margins entire, hyaline cells on convex surface with round to elliptic pores along the commissures, grading from small pores near the leaf apex to large pores near the base, concave surface with large round pores in proximal marginal regions of leaf. |
Sexual condition | dioicous. |
dioicous. |
Capsule | with pseudostomata. |
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Spores | 22–29 µm; finely papillose on both surfaces; indistinct triradiate ridge on distal surface; proximal laesura 0.5–0.6 spore radius. |
17–30 µm, finely papillose on proximal surface and pusticulate on distal surface; proximal laesura less than 0.5 spore radius. |
Branch | fascicles with 2 spreading and 2 pendent branches.; branch stems with hyaline cell comb-lamellae visible on interior cortex wall, cortical cell end walls with conspicuous funnel projections more than 1/2 length of cell, superficial cortical wall aporose. |
fascicles with 2 spreading and 1–2 pendent branches. |
Sphagnum portoricense |
Sphagnum fuscum |
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Phenology | Capsules mature late summer. | |
Habitat | Stream channels, shallow ponds, coniferous and hardwood swamps and pocosins | Mires, hummocks, fens |
Elevation | low to moderate elevations | low to high elevations |
Distribution |
AL; FL; LA; NC; NJ; NY; SC; TX; Mexico; South America; West Indies |
AK; CA; CO; CT; ID; IL; IN; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MT; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OR; PA; RI; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NF; NS; NT; NU; ON; PE; QC; SK; YT; Greenland; Eurasia
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Discussion | Sphagnum portoricense is normally very easily distinguished because of its wet growing habit and strongly clavate branches. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Sphagnum fuscum is common in ombrotrophic mires and alpine mountain summits where it may form small to large hummocks to 1 m in height, more infrequently in weakly minerotrophic mires and richer fens. Sporophytes are common in Sphagnum fuscum, which is associated with S. angustifolium, S. fallax, S. magellanicum, S. papillosum, and more infrequently with S. teres, and S. warnstorfii in richer sites. Very widespread but generally easily recognized, it is the only small brown hummock-forming species of sect. Acutifolia over most of its range. There are some significant variations in this species. The stem leaves can vary from having a rounded, entire apex to having a somewhat flat and lacerate apex. The branches also vary from being unranked and slender to 5-ranked and blunt. The color also can vary from a light to a dark brown. There does not seem, however, to be any consistent pattern to these variations and thus no taxonomic recognition has been given to them. See also discussion under 73. S. flavicomans. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 27, p. 54. | FNA vol. 27, p. 94. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | S. sullivantianum | S. acutifolium var. fuscum, S. tenuifolium, S. vancouveriense |
Name authority | Hampe: Linnaea 25: 359. (1852) | (Schimper) H. Klinggraff: Schriften Phys.-Ökon. Ges. Konigsberg 13: 4. (1872) |
Web links |