Sphagnum pylaesii |
Sphagnum recurvum |
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Pylaes' sphagnum |
recurved sphagnum |
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Habit | Plants slender and delicate, aquatic or prostrate, with a conspicuous terminal bud; dark greenish to purplish brown in submerged plants to deep salmon-red in prostrate plants, capitulum quite indistinct but with distinct terminal bud. | Plants moderate-sized to robust, moderately stiff-stemmed, ± lax, but not compact; green to pale yellow to yellowish brown; capitulum typically strongly convex in open grown forms, but flat and ± 5-radiate in shade forms. |
Stem(s) | leaves broadly ovate, 1.5–2(2.5) mm; straight; hyaline cells fibrillose and nearly aporose, with single small pores occasionally found in the distal cell ends on the concave surface. |
pale green to yellowish; superficial cortex of 2 layers of enlarged, thin-walled and well differentiated cells.; stem leaves triangular, triangular-lingulate to lingulate, more than 0.8 mm, appressed, apex obtuse to broadly obtuse, erose to fimbriate; hyaline cells efibrillose and nonseptate. |
Branches | lacking or short and slender. |
straight and often tapering, often 5-ranked, leaves not much elongate at distal end of branches. |
Branch leaves | when present similar to stem leaves but smaller, 0.8–1.2 mm, hyaline cells fibrillose and mostly aporose, 1–6 irregularly round-shaped membrane gaps in some cells near apex on convex surface. |
ovate-lanceolate, 1.4–2 mm, straight; slightly undulate and sharply recurved; margins entire; hyaline cells on convex surface with 1 pore per cell at cell apex, concave surface with round wall thinnings in the cell ends and angles; chlorophyllous cells triangular in transverse section and well-enclosed on concave surface. |
Sexual condition | dioicous. |
dioicous. |
Capsule | usually immersed in perichaetiale leaves, but may be slightly emergent, pseudostomata absent from capsule surface. |
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Spores | 29–41 µm, coarsely papillose on both surfaces, indistinct raised sculpture on distal surface; proximal laesura less than 0.5 spore radius. |
22–28 µm; papillose on both surfaces; proximal laesura more than 0.5 spore radius. |
Branch | fascicles none or 1 spreading branch. |
fascicles with 2 spreading and 2 pendent branches.; branch stems green, cortex enlarged with conspicuous retort cells. |
Sphagnum pylaesii |
Sphagnum recurvum |
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Phenology | Capsules mature late summer to early fall. | |
Habitat | Weakly minerotrophic, wet rocks, poor fens | Forming carpets in a variety of very poor to poor fen habitats, including sedge fens, pocosins, bay swamps |
Elevation | low to high elevations | low to moderate elevations |
Distribution |
MA; ME; NC; NH; NJ; NF; NS; QC; Greenland; NY ; Europe
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AL; AR; CT; DE; FL; GA; IL; IN; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MO; MS; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; PA; SC; TN; TX; VA; VT; WV; NF; NS; South America
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Discussion | Sporophytes rare in Sphagnum pylaesii. This species is distributed as a pioneer on wet rocks associated with S. tenellum and S. papillosum, or in poor fens with S. pulchrum, S. majus, and S. papillosum. See also discussion under 53. S. cyclophyllum. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Sporophytes in Sphagnum recurvum are uncommon. This species is found exclusively in the New World. It has several strong characters that distinguish it from S. flexuosum, and the opinion of H. A. Crum (1997) that the two species are synonymous is rejected. See discussion under 30. S. flexuosum. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 27, p. 84. | FNA vol. 27, p. 75. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Hemitheca pylaiei, S. pylaesii var. austinii, S. pylaesii var. prostratum, S. pylaesii var. ramosum, S. sedoides, S. sedoides var. austinii, S. sedoides var. prostratum | S. pentastichon, S. pulchricoma, S. riparioides |
Name authority | Bridel: Bryol. Univ. 1: 749. (1827) | P. Beauvois: Prodr. Aethéogam., 88. (1805) |
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