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sphagnum

Habit Plants moderate-sized; capitulum flat-topped and dense; pale yellow and pink, lacking sheen. Plants small to moderate-sized, slender and soft, lax, moderately weak to moderately stiff-stemmed; green, pale yellowish green, yellowish brown, grayish brown or reddish brown; capitulum typically compact and twisted in the middle like a ball of yarn, spreading branches curved giving a pinwheel appearance.
Stem(s)

pink, superficial cortical cells aporose.;

stem leaves narrowly triangular to lingulate- triangular, 1.2–1.6 × 0.6–0.8 mm, length: width ratio ca. 2:1, apex apiculate, border strong and moderately broadened basally;

hyaline cells narrowly rhomboid and 1 to occasionally 2 septate, often fibrillose apically.

leaves triangular-lingulate to lingulate, 0.7–1.3 mm, appressed to stem, apex obtuse to broadly obtuse and erose to somewhat lacerate, hyaline cells efibrillose and nonseptate.

Branches

not 5-ranked.

curved, unranked to less commonly (in wet-grown forms) 5-ranked, leaves not much elongate at distal end.

Branch leaves

1.3–1.5 × 0.5–0.55 mm, ovate-lanceolate, concave, straight, apex involute;

hyaline cells on convex surface with numerous round to elliptic pores along the commissures, grading from large elliptical pores at the base to moderate-sized round pores at the apex, concave surface with a few large round pores scattered throughout.

ovate-lanceolate to broadly ovate-lanceolate, 1.5–2.5 mm, strongly undulate and moderately recurved when dry, straight;

margin entire;

greater than hyaline cells on convex surface with 1–2 pores per cell at cell apex, on concave surface with round wall thinnings in the cell ends and angles; chlorophyllous cells triangular in transverse section and typically just slightly exposed on the concave surface.

Sexual condition

unknown.

dioicous.

Spores

23–25 µm; moderately to coarsely papillose on both surfaces;

proximal laesura approximately 0.5 spore radius.

Branch

fascicles with 2 spreading and 1 pendent branch.

fascicles with 2(–3) spreading and 2 pendent branches.;

branch stems green but sometimes reddish at proximal end, with cortex enlarged with conspicuous retort cells.

Sphagnum sitchense

Sphagnum flexuosum

Phenology Sporophytes uncommon, capsules mature early to late summer.
Habitat Known only from type locality where it was forming low dense hummocks in alpine tundra Forming carpets in poor to medium fens, mostly sedge-fens and mire edge habitat
Elevation moderate elevations low to moderate elevations
Distribution
from FNA
AK
from FNA
CT; IL; IN; MD; ME; MI; MN; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; PA; TN; VT; WI; WV; NB; NF; NS; ON; PE; QC; Europe
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Discussion

Of species in sect. Cuspidata with range and ecology similar to that of Sphagnum flexuosum, S. angustifolium and S. recurvum have rounded stem leaves. In S. angustifolium the stem leaves are more triangular and rarely erose while the branch leaves are narrower and more strongly 5-ranked. Sphagnum recurvum also has narrower and more 5-ranked branch leaves than does S. flexuosum, as well as a much more strongly differentiated stem cortex. In S. flexuosum the branch leaves are only slightly recurved whereas in S. recurvum they are sharply recurved.

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

Source FNA vol. 27, p. 98. FNA vol. 27, p. 68.
Parent taxa Sphagnaceae > Sphagnum > sect. Acutifolia Sphagnaceae > Sphagnum > sect. Cuspidata
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. pylaesii, S. quinquefarium, S. recurvum, S. riparium, S. rubellum, S. rubiginosum, S. rubroflexuosum, S. russowii, 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. 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. 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
Synonyms S. amblyphyllum, S. fallax var. flexuosum, S. flexuosum var. ramosissimum, S. flexuosum var. recurvum, S. recurvum subsp. amblyphyllum, S. recurvum var. amblyphyllum
Name authority R. E. Andrus: Sida 22: 969, figs. 27–34. (2006) Dozy & Molkenboer: in R. B. van den Bosch et al., Prodr. Fl. Bat. 2(1): 76. (1851)
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