The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Pylaes' sphagnum

Russow's peat-moss, Russow's sphagnum

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, stiff and open, compact on exposed sites, capitulum flat-topped and often stellate; green or variegated red and green, lacking metallic sheen when dry.
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.

leaves lingulate, 1.3–1.6 mm, apex broadly rounded or pointed and notched (sometimes denticulate), border strong and broadened at base (more than 0.25 width);

hyaline cells short sinuoid-rhombic, mostly efibrillose, 0–1(–2)-septate.

Branches

lacking or short and slender.

long and slender, never 5-ranked.

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, 1.3–1.6 mm, concave, straight, apex strongly involute;

hyaline cells on convex surface with numerous round to elliptic pores along the commissures, grading from small round pores near the apex to large elliptic pores at the base, concave surface usually with large round pores throughout, but sometimes restricted to proximal portions of leaf.

Sexual condition

dioicous.

dioicous, but some specimens apparently monoicous.

Capsule

usually immersed in perichaetiale leaves, but may be slightly emergent, pseudostomata absent from capsule surface.

Spores

29–41 µm, coarsely papillose on both surfaces, indistinct raised sculpture on distal surface;

proximal laesura less than 0.5 spore radius.

18–33 µm, coarsely papillose on both surfaces;

proximal laesura more than 0.5 spore radius.

Branch

fascicles none or 1 spreading branch.

fascicles with 2 spreading and 1–2 pendent branches.

Sphagnum pylaesii

Sphagnum russowii

Phenology Capsules mature late spring to early summer.
Habitat Weakly minerotrophic, wet rocks, poor fens Minerotrophic and shade-tolerant, common on the margins of mires, open portions of poor to rich fens, up through timberline in montane regions in wet coniferous forests
Elevation low to high elevations low to high elevations
Distribution
from FNA
MA; ME; NC; NH; NJ; NF; NS; QC; Greenland; NY ; Europe
[WildflowerSearch map]
from FNA
AK; CA; CO; CT; DE; IA; ID; IL; IN; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MT; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OR; PA; RI; TN; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NF; NS; NT; NU; ON; PE; QC; SK; YT; Greenland; Eurasia
[WildflowerSearch map]
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 are uncommon in Sphagnum russowii. This species is associated with S. centrale, S. fallax, S. fimbriatum, S. girgensohnii, and S. squarrosum. Because of its not particularly distinct phenotype as well its strong tendency to produce hemiisophyllous stem leaves, S. russowii is probably the most frequently misidentified Sphagnum species. The combination of the flat, stellate capitulum, unranked branch leaves, and lingulate stem leaf will usually suffice to identify it. Sphagnum capillifolium has a rounded capitulum and a pointed stem leaf while S. subtile also has a rounded capitulum but a shorter and more triangular stem leaf. In montane and arctic mires it can be confused with S. warnstorfii but the latter usually has conspicuously 5-ranked branch leaves. As one might expect in such a widespread and common species, the characters can vary considerably. For example, one regularly finds plants that are consistent in every respect with the description except that they lack stem cortical pores. Some stem leaves have almost no septations in the hyaline cells while other forms have most of the cells septate. As with similar variation in the likewise common S. fuscum, there is no consistent pattern and so taxonomic recognition of the variants is unwarranted.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 27, p. 84. FNA vol. 27, p. 97.
Parent taxa Sphagnaceae > Sphagnum > sect. Subsecunda Sphagnaceae > Sphagnum > sect. Acutifolia
Sibling taxa
S. affine, S. alaskense, S. andersonianum, S. angermanicum, S. angustifolium, S. annulatum, S. aongstroemii, S. arcticum, S. atlanticum, S. austinii, S. balticum, S. bartlettianum, S. beothuk, S. bergianum, S. brevifolium, S. capillifolium, S. carolinianum, S. centrale, S. compactum, S. contortum, S. cribrosum, S. cuspidatum, S. cyclophyllum, S. fallax, S. fimbriatum, S. fitzgeraldii, S. flavicomans, S. flexuosum, S. fuscum, S. girgensohnii, S. henryense, S. imbricatum, S. inexspectatum, S. inundatum, S. isoviitae, S. jensenii, S. junghuhnianum, S. kenaiense, S. lenense, S. lescurii, S. lindbergii, S. macrophyllum, S. magellanicum, S. majus, S. mcqueenii, S. mendocinum, S. microcarpum, S. mirum, S. mississippiense, S. molle, S. obtusum, S. oregonense, S. orientale, S. pacificum, S. palustre, S. papillosum, S. perfoliatum, S. perichaetiale, S. platyphyllum, S. portoricense, S. pulchrum, S. quinquefarium, S. recurvum, S. riparium, S. rubellum, S. rubiginosum, S. rubroflexuosum, S. russowii, S. sitchense, S. splendens, S. squarrosum, S. steerei, S. strictum, S. subfulvum, S. subnitens, S. subsecundum, S. subtile, S. talbotianum, S. tenellum, S. tenerum, S. teres, S. torreyanum, S. trinitense, S. tundrae, S. viride, S. warnstorfii, S. wilfii, S. wulfianum
S. affine, S. alaskense, S. andersonianum, S. angermanicum, S. angustifolium, S. annulatum, S. aongstroemii, S. arcticum, S. atlanticum, S. austinii, S. balticum, S. bartlettianum, S. beothuk, S. bergianum, S. brevifolium, S. capillifolium, S. carolinianum, S. centrale, S. compactum, S. contortum, S. cribrosum, S. cuspidatum, S. cyclophyllum, S. fallax, S. fimbriatum, S. fitzgeraldii, S. flavicomans, S. flexuosum, S. fuscum, S. girgensohnii, S. henryense, S. imbricatum, S. inexspectatum, S. inundatum, S. isoviitae, S. jensenii, S. junghuhnianum, S. kenaiense, S. lenense, S. lescurii, S. lindbergii, S. macrophyllum, S. magellanicum, S. majus, S. mcqueenii, S. mendocinum, S. microcarpum, S. mirum, S. mississippiense, S. molle, S. obtusum, S. oregonense, S. orientale, S. pacificum, S. palustre, S. papillosum, S. perfoliatum, S. perichaetiale, S. platyphyllum, S. portoricense, S. pulchrum, S. pylaesii, S. quinquefarium, S. recurvum, S. riparium, S. rubellum, S. rubiginosum, S. rubroflexuosum, S. sitchense, S. splendens, S. squarrosum, S. steerei, S. strictum, S. subfulvum, S. subnitens, S. subsecundum, S. subtile, S. talbotianum, S. tenellum, S. tenerum, S. teres, S. torreyanum, S. trinitense, S. tundrae, S. viride, S. warnstorfii, S. wilfii, S. wulfianum
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. acutifolium var. robustum
Name authority Bridel: Bryol. Univ. 1: 749. (1827) Warnstorf: Hedwigia 25: 225. (1886)
Web links