Home › Volumes › Mosses and Lichens › Herbarium
Acuta.--With branch-leaves erect and stem leaves large. Examples
2. Cuspidata.--With branch-leaves longer and narrower than the Acuta group, erect, spreading and wavy on the margins when dry; stem-leaves small. Example: Sphagnum cuspidatum.
3. Squarrosa.--Plants stout, branch-leaves spreading open widely and abruptly from the middle of the branch. Example: Sphagnum squarrosum. (See diagram below.)
4. Mollia.--Plants short, densely crowded, very soft when wet, brittle when dry, branch leaves short. Example: Sphagnum molle. (See diagram, page 123.)
5. Subsecunda.--Branch-leaves more or less turned to one side or strongly curved and more or less folded. Example: Sphagnum subsecundum. (See diagram, page 123.)
6. Cymbiformia.--Plants robust; stem-leaves large, tongue or boat-shaped, branch-leaves very concave. Example: Sphagnum cymbifolium. (See diagram, page 123.)
7. Cyclophylla.--Plants not crowded, stems short, usually without short hanging branches; leaves loosely overlapping, roundish or oval, with a broad blunt apex.
Acute-leaved Peat-moss (Sphagnum acutifolium), Ehrh.--See Colour Plate XI.
Habit and habitat.--Green or purple or red, common in open, shaded bogs, in valleys or on mountains; many varieties are noted; the variations due to their special habit.
Name.--The specific name acutifolium is compounded of two Latin words acutus, sharp, and folium, a leaf, referring to the apex of the leaf.
Plants (gametophyte).--Stem without pores in the triple layer of cells which form the outer covering; cluster branches spreading, 3 to 5, one to two pendent.
Leaves.--Stem-leaves large, erect, oval or tongue-shaped; apex irregularly notched; with the large cells lined with a few or no spiral thickenings; branch-leaves deeply concave, erect, oval lance-shaped and awl-shaped, apex toothed; margin in-rolled.
Habit of flowering.--Male and female flowers on the same plant (monoicous) or on separate plants (dioicous); male branches usually red.
Leaves at the base of the spore-case (perichaetial leaves).--Oblong, gradually narrowed to a point, apex sinuous, toothed, recurved.
Spore-case.--Numerous, on long false pedicels.
Spores.--Rust-colour, mature in July.
Distribution.--Universal.
The Reddish Peat-moss (Sphagnum rubellum), Weis.
Habit and habitat.--Common in the Adirondack Mountains. The plants cover sunny bogs with a deep red carpet.
Name.--The specific name is the Latin rubellum, somewhat red.
Plant (gametophyte).--Resembling Sphagnum acutifolium, stems softer and more slender.
Leaves.--Stem-leaves broad, obtuse, sometimes with fibrils in the cells; branch-leaves shorter, oval oblong, apex obtuse, three-toothed.
Habit of flowering.--Male and female flowers on separate plants (dioicous).
The Pointed Peat-moss (Sphagnum cuspidatum), Ehrh.
Habit and habitat.--Green or brown, floating in loose tufts in ponds and on the borders of streams flowing from bogs.
Name.--The specific name is the Latin cuspidatum, sharpened at the end, referring to the cluster-branches.
Plants (gametophyte).--Long and slender, 6 to 18 inches or even several feet; cluster-branches (fascicles), spreading or hanging, not closely appressed to the stem, 3 to 5, tapering to a stout point owing to the fact that the terminal leaves are rolled lengthwise.
Leaves.--Stem-leaves small, triangular, apex 2- to 3-toothed; branch-leaves loose, erect spreading, wavy on the margins when dry, lance-like and taper-pointed, deeply concave, apex with several small teeth; awl-shaped at the ends of the branches.
Leaves at the base of the spore-case.--Distant, broadly ovate, apex cut square or obtuse; large cells lined with fibrils.
Habit of flowering.--Male and female flowers on separate plants (dioicous).
Spore-case.--Scattered down the stem, small, the false pedicel often half an inch long.
Spores.--Light brown, mature in July.
Distribution.--Universal.
The Spread-leaved Sphagnum (Sphagnum squarrosum), Pers.-See Plate XII.
Habit and habitat.-Bluish-green, stout, loosely crowded, the summits appearing like edelweiss, almost white when dry; common in boggy places.
Name.-The specific name is the Latin squarrosum, scurfy, applied to describe the scale-like leaves of the stem.
Plant (gametophyte).-Stems solid, simple or forking, red; cluster-branches 4 to 5, 2 to 3 divergent, the others pendent and appressed.
Leaves.-Stem leaves soft, spreading or turned backward from the stem, tongue-shaped; apex rounded and ragged; branch-leaves spreading widely and abruptly from the middle of the branch, oblong lance-shaped, apex four-toothed.
Leaves at the base of the spore-case (perichaetial leaves).-Very broad, thin apex rounded and notched.
Habit of flowering.-Male and female flowers generally on the same plants (monoicous).
Spore-case.-Large, nearly spherical, shining dark brown, numerous at and near the summit of the plant.
Spores.-Yellow, mature in August and September.
Distribution.-North America, Europe, Asia, Africa.
The Boat-leaved Moss (Sphagnum cymbifolium), Ehrh.-See Plate III.
Habit and habitat.-Common in bogs, robust, yellow-green or red, densely crowded when growing out of water, rarely floating, male plants slender with thick flower-clusters.
Name.-The specific name cymbifolium is compounded of two Latin words, cymba, a small boat, and folium, a leaf, referring to the branch-leaves. Stem solid, simple or two-parted; cortical cells in 3 to 4 layers; cluster-branches (fascicles), swollen, 4 to 5, 2 to 3 hanging, the rest curved.
Leaves.-Stem leaves large, tongue-shaped or spatulate, generally turned back from the stem; apex rounded and irregularly notched; branch-leaves broadly oval and boat-shaped, apex finely serrate and rough, densely overlapping; translucent cells (utricles) large, with spiral thickenings (fibrillose) and few pores, green cells (ducts) narrowly oval.