Sphagnum quinquefarium |
Sphagnum perichaetiale |
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five-rank peat-moss, sphagnum |
sphagnum |
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Habit | Plants moderate-sized, typically stiff and compact, capitulum usually hemispherical; green, grayish white, pale yellow, purplish red, may have a slight metallic luster when dry. | Plants ± moderate-sized, compact and stiff-stemmed; forming dense to somewhat loose low cushions in often seasonally dry depressions. |
Stem(s) | leaves triangular to triangular-lingulate, 1–1.3 mm, apex acute to slightly obtuse, border broad at base (more than 0.25 width); hyaline cells narrowly rhomboid, mostly 0–1-septate and mostly efibrillose. |
leaves to 1.1 × 0.7 mm, commonly hemiisophyllous; hyaline cells non-ornamented, mostly 1–2-septate. |
Branches | usually strongly 5-ranked. |
short and blunt at distal end, leaves loosely spreading. |
Branch leaves | ovate to ovate-lanceolate, 1.1–1.5 mm, concave, straight, apex slightly involute; hyaline cells on convex surface with numerous oval to elliptic pores along commissures grading from small pores near apex to large round pores at base, concave surface with large round pores in proximal portions of leaf. |
ovate, to 2.2 × 1.1 mm; ovate, hyaline cells non-ornamented, on proximal half of convex surface with small ringed pores or pseudopores in groups of three where the corners join and pseudopores along the commissures; chlorophyllous cells narrowly rectangular, lenticular to narrowly trapezoidal in transverse section; exposed equally on both surfaces or more broadly on concave surface; end walls not thickened. |
Sexual condition | monoicous or dioicous. |
dioicous. |
Capsule | with numerous pseudostomata. |
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Spores | 19–27 µm, finely papillose on proximal surface, pusticulate on distal surface; proximal laesura less than 0.4 spore radius. |
25–39 µm; surface smooth to irregularly and finely papillose; indistinct Y-mark on distal surface; proximal laesura more than 0.6 spore radius. |
Branch | fascicles with mostly 3 spreading and 1–2 pendent branches. |
fascicles with 2 spreading and 1–2 pendent branches.; branch stems with hyaline cells non-ornamented, no or weak funnel-like projection of end walls of cortical cells, cortical cells with one large pore per cell on superficial wall. |
Sphagnum quinquefarium |
Sphagnum perichaetiale |
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Phenology | Capsules mature mid summer. | Capsules common, mature late spring to early summer. |
Habitat | Weakly minerotrophic and hygrophytic, wet mineral bedrock, damp coniferous humus along coast and in montane regions | Mostly ruderal, wet depressions in sandy substrates, often in areas recently burned, also low to moderate-sized hummocks in Chamaecyparis swamps |
Elevation | low to high elevations | low to high elevations |
Distribution |
AK; CT; GA; MA; MD; ME; MN; NC; NH; NY; PA; TN; VA; VT; WV; BC; MB; NB; NF; NS; ON; QC; Eurasia |
AL; DE; FL; GA; LA; MD; MS; NC; NJ; SC; TX; VA; South America; se Asia; s Africa; Pacific Islands (New Zealand) |
Discussion | Sporophytes are common in Sphagnum quinquefarium. This species is usually associated with S. capillifolium, S. girgensohnii, and S. russowii. No other species of sect. Acutifolia has the combination of quinquefarious branch leaves and three spreading branches per fascicle. Sphagnum rubiginosum has three spreading branches but the branch leaves are quite unranked and its lingulate stem leaf is quite distinct from the triangular stem leaf of S. quinquefarium. See also discussion under 86. S. talbotianum. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
The compact growth form in thin but dense mats and occurrence in often dessication-prone sites distinguishes Sphagnum perichaetiale from any other species of sect. Sphagnum. The often quite stiffly spreading branch leaves give it a strong resemblance to S. compactum, but the latter’s small triangular stem leaves will readily distinguish that species. The branch leaf hyaline cells of S. perichaetiale have only a few pores on their convex surface, and they are typically small, thickened, and grouped in 3s where the cell corners meet. Similar species in sect. Sphagnum have more pores along the commissures, and they are more elliptical and not thickened. The often hemiisophyllous stem leaves are also diagnostic of S. perichaetiale within the section. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 27, p. 96. | FNA vol. 27, p. 54. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | S. acutifolium var. quinquefarium, S. schofieldii | S. brevicaule, S. cymbifolium var. ludovicianum, S. harperi, S. ludovicianum |
Name authority | (Lindberg) Warnstorf: Hedwigia 25: 222. (1886) | Hampe: Linnaea 20: 66. (1847) |
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