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

rough peat moss, shaggy peat, sphagnum, spiky bog-moss, spread-leaf peat moss, spreading-leaf bog moss

Habit Plants robust, stiff; green, pale green, yellow-green; large terminal bud; typically as loose carpets in coniferous forests.
Stem

green to red-brown; 2–3 superficial cortical layers.;

stem leaves shorter than branch leaves, ovate-lingulate to oblong-lingulate, 1.6–1.8 × 1–1.2 mm;

hyaline cells mostly nonseptate.

Branches

long and tapering with distinct squarrose spreading leaves, often terete in tundra forms.

Branch leaves

larger than stem leaves, 1.9–2.8 mm, conspicuously squarrose from ovate-hastate base and abruptly narrowed 1/2–1/3 distance from apex into involute-concave acumen, often terete in tundra forms;

hyaline cells convex on both surfaces, non-ringed pores at ends and corners of cells, ringed pores on concave surface (4–8/cell) and nonringed pores (2–4/cell) on convex surface, internal commissural walls smooth or indistinctly papillose, chlorophyllous cells ovate triangular with widest part at or close to the convex surface.

Sexual condition

monoicous.

Spores

17–30 µm;

proximal surface finely papillose, distal surface smooth with raised bifurcated Y-mark sculpture;

proximal laesura more than 0.5 spore radius.

Branch

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

branch stems with 1–2 layers of cortical cells.

Sphagnum squarrosum

Phenology Sporophytes abundant, capsules mature early to mid summer.
Habitat Forming loose carpets in rich habitats such as wet coniferous forests, Thuja swamps, karrs, medium fens, and stream margins
Elevation low to high elevations
Distribution
from FNA
AK; AZ; CA; CO; CT; IA; ID; IL; IN; MA; ME; MI; MN; MT; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OR; PA; SD; TN; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NF; NS; NT; NU; ON; PE; QC; SK; YT; Greenland; Eurasia; Pacific Islands (New Zealand)
[WildflowerSearch map]
Discussion

In its typical robust form with strongly squarrose branch leaves, Sphagnum squarrosum is unmistakeable. Smaller forms such as occur in the higher mountains may be difficult to identify accurately without careful examination of microscopic details. In the tundra there sometimes occur large, terete forms of S. squarrosum but these are usually considerably more robust than S. teres. See also discussion under 14. S. strictum.

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

Source FNA vol. 27, p. 59.
Parent taxa Sphagnaceae > Sphagnum > sect. Squarrosa
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. sitchense, S. splendens, 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. squarrosum var. imbricatum
Name authority Crome: Samml. Deut. Laubm., 24. (1803)
Web links