Sphagnum rubellum |
Sphagnum carolinianum |
|
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sphagnum |
Carolina sphagnum |
|
Habit | Plants small to moderate-sized, slender, fairly stiff but soft, capitulum flat-topped and stellate; deep maroon-red to variegated red and yellowish green, lacking metallic sheen when dry. | Plants moderate to large, erect to floating, green to dark brown; capitulum large, well defined and flat-topped. |
Stem(s) | leaves lingulate-triangular to lingulate, 1–1.4 mm, apex broadly rounded but becoming acute in hemiisophyllous forms, border strongly developed at base (more than 0.25 width); hyaline cells rhombic and 0–3-septate with some cells in leaf midregion 2–septate. |
leaves lingulate to lingulate-triangular, 0.7–1.5 mm (to 3 mm in isophyllous forms), apex erose; hyaline cells mostly 1–septate but in a few cells with 2–3 parallel septations, efibrillose to fibrillose throughout, pores present in hemiisophyllous and isophyllous forms. |
Branches | weakly to strongly 5-ranked. |
straight to somewhat curved, with spreading leaves. |
Branch leaves | ovate to ovate-lanceolate, 0.9–1.2 mm, concave, subsecund on some branches, apex involute; hyaline cells on convex surface with numerous round to elliptic pores along the commissures, grading from small round pores near apex to round pores near base, on concave surface with large round pores in proximal portions of leaf. |
variable, broadly ovate to ovate-lanceolate, 1.3–5 mm; straight, hyaline cells on the convex surface with 4–8 µm round to elliptic pores in nearly continuous rows along the commissures, the concave surface aporose or with some porosity as on the convex surface. |
Sexual condition | dioicous. |
unknown. |
Capsule | not seen. |
|
Spores | 18–33 µm, coarsely papillose on both surfaces; proximal laesura less than 0.4 spore radius. |
not seen. |
Branch | fascicles with 2 spreading and 1–2 pendent branches. |
fascicles with 2 spreading and 2 pendent in emergent forms, these reduced in aquatic forms to 2 per fascicle. |
Sphagnum rubellum |
Sphagnum carolinianum |
|
Phenology | Capsules mature mid summer. | |
Habitat | Poor fens and ombrotrophic mires, forming extensive carpets and hummocks | Forming wet often floating carpets in pools in weakly minerotrophic mires |
Elevation | low to high elevations | low to moderate elevations |
Distribution |
AK; CT; IL; IN; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OR; PA; RI; VT; WA; WI; BC; NB; NF; NS; NT; ON; PE; QC; YT; Greenland; Eurasia
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AL; DE; FL; GA; LA; MA; ME; MO; MS; NC; NJ; NY; SC; TN; TX; VA; NF |
Discussion | Sporophytes are uncommon in Sphagnum rubellum. This common species is associated with S. angustifolium, S. capillifolium, S. fallax, S. fuscum, S. magellanicum, S. papillosum, S. recurvum, and S. tenellum. Inland, it has a greater tendency to form extensive carpets and floating mats than hummocks. See also discussion under 65. S. andersonianum, 68. S. bartlettianum, and 86. S. talbotianum. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
The sporophytes of Sphagnum carolinianum are unknown. In its apparent restriction to the coastal plain, this species is most similar distributionally to such species as S. macrophyllum, S. fitzgeraldii, and S. tenerum. When forming carpets, S. carolinianum macrospically most resembles S. atlanticum but its branch leaves are not as elongate as those of the latter and its stem leaves have a much more obtuse apex. When growing aquatically, S. caroliniaum can resemble S. cribrosum, but in the latter species the hanging branches are not different from the spreading branches and may even be lacking. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 27, p. 96. | FNA vol. 27, p. 79. |
Parent taxa | Sphagnaceae > Sphagnum > sect. Acutifolia | Sphagnaceae > Sphagnum > sect. Subsecunda |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | S. acutifolium var. tenellum, S. capillaceum var. tenellum, S. capillifolium var. tenellum | S. subsecundum var. carolinianum |
Name authority | Wilson: Bryol. Brit., 19. (1855) | R. E. Andrus: Bryologist 86: 257, figs. (1983) |
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