Sphagnum tenellum |
Sphagnum molle |
|
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soft peat-moss, sphagnum |
sphagnum |
|
Habit | Plants small, slender and weak-stemmed; pale yellow to golden brown, rarely tinged with red; capitulum not especially distinct. | Plants moderate-sized, soft and lax when wet, stiff when dry, typically very compact, capitulum flat and usually large; pale whitish, yellowish or purplish, occasionally a deep purple-red; without metallic sheen when dry. |
Stem(s) | leaves ovate-lingulate; 1–1.3 mm, apex broadly rounded; hyaline cells nonseptate, aporose and fibrillose in at least distal half of leaf. |
leaves quite variable in shape, elongate-lingulate to ovate, broadest above the middle, 1.9–2.5 mm, slightly concave, straight; apex broad and toothed; hyaline cells narrowly rhomboid, 0–1-septate, distal portion fibrillose, convex surface with membrane pleats, concave surface with 1(2–3) oblong membrane gaps. |
Branches | 2–3 spreading and 2 pendent leaves not much elongated at distal end. |
rarely 5-ranked. |
Branch leaves | ovate, 1–1.5 mm; straight; not or weakly undulate or recurved when dry; margins entire; hyaline cells short and wide, convex surface with 1–3 small pores per cell and on concave surface with large round wall thinnings in the cell angles; chlorophyllous cells equilateral-triangular in transverse section, broadly exposed on convex surface and just reaching to well-enclosed on concave surface. |
ovate, 1.6–2.2 mm, concave, straight; apex stiffly involute and broadly truncate with up to 8 teeth, border denticulate due to cell wall resorption and projecting cell walls; hyaline cells strongly bulging on convex surface and nearly plane on the concave surface, convex surface with narrowly elliptic pores along commissures grading from smaller pores near the apex to large rounded pores at base, concave surface with large round pores in proximal regions of leaf. |
Sexual condition | monoicous. |
monoicous. |
Spores | 27–42 µm; both surfaces smooth, proximal surface with distinct bifurcated Y-mark sculpture surrounded by distinct circular border, distal surface with distinct raised border around margins; proximal laesura usually less than 0.4 spore radius. |
27–33 µm, finely papillose on both surfaces with distinct bifurcated Y-mark sculpture on distal surface; proximal laesura less than 0.5 spore radius. |
Branch | stems green; cortex enlarged, with conspicuously long-necked retort cells. |
fascicles with 2 spreading and 1–2 pendent branches. |
Sphagnum tenellum |
Sphagnum molle |
|
Phenology | Capsules mature early to mid summer. | Capsules mature early to mid summer. |
Habitat | Wet depressions in a variety of ombrotropic and weakly minerotrophic habitats | Weakly minerotrophic and hygrophytic, poor fens and sand dunes, forming tight cushions among grasses and sedges in savannas, pine barrens, swamps, pond margins, and ditches where periodic dessication is common |
Elevation | low to high elevations | low to high elevations |
Distribution |
AK; ME; NC; NJ; NY; BC; MB; NB; NF; NS; Greenland; Eurasia |
AL; DE; FL; GA; KY; LA; ME; MS; NC; NJ; NY; SC; TX; VA; LB; Europe |
Discussion | Sporophytes are common in Sphagnum tenellum. The delicate appearance created by the ovate and concave branch leaves as well as the large concave stem leaves make this a usually unmistakeable species. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
The sporophytes of Sphagnum molle are common. This species is usually easily distinguished from other red species of sect. Acutifolia by its relatively large, straight, loosely spreading and unranked branch leaves. Sphagnum tenerum, the other red species of sect. Acutifolia to which it is most similar, has branch leaves that are quite imbricate. Microscopically, the denticulate-margined branch leaves are unmistakeable. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 27, p. 76. | FNA vol. 27, p. 95. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | S. cymbifolium var. tenellum, S. molluscum | S. labradorense, S. tabulare |
Name authority | (Bridel) Bory: Voy. Îles Afrique. 3: 107. (1804) | Sullivant: Musc. Allegh., 205. (1846) |
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