Sphagnum teres |
Sphagnum pulchrum |
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rigid peat-moss, sphagnum |
sphagnum |
|
Habit | Plants fairly slender to moderate-sized, pale green to yellowish, or reddish brown in sun-grown forms; forms loose to dense carpets. | Plants moderate-sized to robust, often quite dense and compact; green, brownish green, golden brown to dark brown; capitulum flat-topped and not especially 5-radiate. |
Stem(s) | leaves generally larger than branch leaves, 1.3– 1.8 × 0.8–1 mm; elliptic to lingulate-spatulate, widest above middle, hyaline cells nonseptate. |
leaves triangular to triangular-lingulate, 0.9–1.1 mm; appressed to spreading; apex apiculate, acute or narrowly obtuse, appressed to spreading; hyaline cells nonseptate and efibrillose. |
Branches | long-cylindrical, branch leaves terete to sometimes distinctly squarrose in shade forms. |
straight to more typically curved, typically stout and blunt ended; strongly 5-ranked, leaves not much elongate at distal end. |
Branch leaves | 1–1.4 mm, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, gradually narrowed to an involute tip, hyaline cells somewhat bulging on concave surface and nearly plane on convex surface, with 4–8 large, elliptic, unringed pores per cell on convex surface and 1–4 irregularly rounded pores per cell on concave surface, internal commissural walls smooth to rather strongly papillose, chlorophyllous cells ovate-triangular with the widest part at or close to the convex surface. |
ovate to ovate-lanceolate, 1.4–1.8 mm; straight to often subsecund; weakly undulate and slightly recurved; hyaline cells on convex surface with 1 pore per cell at apical end of cell, on concave surface with round wall thinnings in the cells ends and angles; chlorophyllous cells triangular to triangular-ovate in transverse section, very well-enclosed within concave surface. |
Sexual condition | dioicous. |
dioicous. |
Spores | 21–26 µm; proximal and distal surfaces smooth, papillae indistinct; proximal laesura 0.5–0.6 spore radius. |
25–28 µm; roughly papillous on both surfaces; proximal laesura more than 0.5 the length of the spore. |
Branch | fascicles typically with 3 spreading (sometimes 2) and 2 pendent branches.; branch stems with single layer of cortical cells. |
fascicles with 2 spreading and 2 pendent branches.; branch stems green but often reddish at proximal end, with cortex enlarged with conspicuous retort cells. |
Sphagnum teres |
Sphagnum pulchrum |
|
Phenology | Sporophytes uncommon, capsules mature late spring to early summer. | |
Habitat | Strongly minerotrophic, in open to medium rich fens, less frequent in coniferous mires, characteristic species of rich, weakly acidic to slightly basic mires | Abundant in poor fens and raised bogs, forming dense carpets at water level, especially on floating mats |
Elevation | low to high elevations | low to moderate elevations |
Distribution |
AK; CA; CO; CT; IA; ID; IL; IN; MA; ME; MI; MN; MT; ND; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OR; PA; VT; WA; WI; WY; AB; BC; MB; NF; NS; NT; NU; ON; QC; SK; YT; Greenland; Eurasia
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AK; CT; IN; MA; ME; MI; MN; NH; NJ; NY; WI; WV; MB; NB; NF; NS; ON; QC; Europe |
Discussion | Shade forms of Sphagnum teres are often squarrose but these are usually considerably smaller than S. squarrosum. For other distinctions between these species, see discussion under the latter. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Sporophytes are uncommon in Sphagnum pulchrum. With its distinctive broad and strongly 5-ranked branch leaves, It is one of our most easily recognized species. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 27, p. 59. | FNA vol. 27, p. 74. |
Parent taxa | Sphagnaceae > Sphagnum > sect. Squarrosa | Sphagnaceae > Sphagnum > sect. Cuspidata |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | S. squarrosum var. teres, S. teres var. squarrosulum | S. intermedium var. pulchrum |
Name authority | Ångström: in C. J. Hartman, Handb. Skand Fl. ed. 8, 417. (1861) | (Lindberg) Warnstorf: Bot. Centralbl. 82: 42. (1900) |
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