Sphagnum viride |
Sphagnum perichaetiale |
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sphagnum |
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Habit | Plants slender and weak-stemmed, moderate-sized, flaccid and plumose when submerged and stiffer and more compact when emergent; green to yellow, usually not tinged with brown or red; capitulum well defined, flat in submersed forms and more rounded in emergent forms. | Plants ± moderate-sized, compact and stiff-stemmed; forming dense to somewhat loose low cushions in often seasonally dry depressions. |
Stem(s) | leaves long triangular-ovate, 1–2 mm; usually appressed; apex acute to apiculate, hyaline cells only rarely septate or aporose but often fibrillose in apical region. |
leaves to 1.1 × 0.7 mm, commonly hemiisophyllous; hyaline cells non-ornamented, mostly 1–2-septate. |
Branches | unranked, straight to slightly curved, leaves somewhat elongated at distal end. |
short and blunt at distal end, leaves loosely spreading. |
Branch leaves | 1.5–2.7 mm, ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate; straight to falcate toward branch tips; when dry often undulate and lightly recurved, margins entire to rarely weakly toothed along the margins in flaccid aquatic forms, hyaline cells on convex surface with 0–1 small round pores at apex, on concave surface with faint round wall thinnings in cell apices and angles; chlorophyllous cells triangular to trapezoidal in transverse section, broadly exposed on the convex surface and exposed slightly to broadly on the concave surface. |
ovate, to 2.2 × 1.1 mm; ovate, hyaline cells non-ornamented, on proximal half of convex surface with small ringed pores or pseudopores in groups of three where the corners join and pseudopores along the commissures; chlorophyllous cells narrowly rectangular, lenticular to narrowly trapezoidal in transverse section; exposed equally on both surfaces or more broadly on concave surface; end walls not thickened. |
Sexual condition | dioicous. |
dioicous. |
Capsule | with numerous pseudostomata. |
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Spores | 30–43 µm; the superficial surface coarsely papillose to papillose reticulate. |
25–39 µm; surface smooth to irregularly and finely papillose; indistinct Y-mark on distal surface; proximal laesura more than 0.6 spore radius. |
Branch | fascicles with 2 spreading and 2–3 pendent branches.; branch stems green, cortex enlarged with conspicuous retort cells. |
fascicles with 2 spreading and 1–2 pendent branches.; branch stems with hyaline cells non-ornamented, no or weak funnel-like projection of end walls of cortical cells, cortical cells with one large pore per cell on superficial wall. |
Sphagnum viride |
Sphagnum perichaetiale |
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Phenology | Capsules common, mature late spring to early summer. | |
Habitat | Widespread, forming wet carpets in weakly minerotrophic mires | Mostly ruderal, wet depressions in sandy substrates, often in areas recently burned, also low to moderate-sized hummocks in Chamaecyparis swamps |
Elevation | low to moderate elevations | low to high elevations |
Distribution |
AL; CT; DE; FL; IN; MA; ME; MI; MN; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; PA; SC; TN; VA; VT; NF; NS; Europe |
AL; DE; FL; GA; LA; MD; MS; NC; NJ; SC; TX; VA; South America; se Asia; s Africa; Pacific Islands (New Zealand) |
Discussion | The sporophytes of Sphagnum viride are uncommon. See discussion under 27. S. cuspidatum for taxonomic distinctions. Spore characters are taken from Flatberg’s description. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
The compact growth form in thin but dense mats and occurrence in often dessication-prone sites distinguishes Sphagnum perichaetiale from any other species of sect. Sphagnum. The often quite stiffly spreading branch leaves give it a strong resemblance to S. compactum, but the latter’s small triangular stem leaves will readily distinguish that species. The branch leaf hyaline cells of S. perichaetiale have only a few pores on their convex surface, and they are typically small, thickened, and grouped in 3s where the cell corners meet. Similar species in sect. Sphagnum have more pores along the commissures, and they are more elliptical and not thickened. The often hemiisophyllous stem leaves are also diagnostic of S. perichaetiale within the section. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 27, p. 77. | FNA vol. 27, p. 54. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | S. brevicaule, S. cymbifolium var. ludovicianum, S. harperi, S. ludovicianum | |
Name authority | Flatberg: Kongel. Norske Vidensk. Selsk. Skr. (Trondheim) 1: 9, figs. (1988) | Hampe: Linnaea 20: 66. (1847) |
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