Family SPHAGNACEAE

Common names

ACUTE-LEAVED PEAT MOSS
SMALL RED PEAT MOSS

Microhabitat

This species usually forms hummocks in the woods around the edges of bogs and fens but is rarely found in open peatlands. It is widely distributed across the boreal forest and fairly abundant along Tatlow trail in Stanley Park. We found it 5 m from the trail, in a depression under cedar and hemlock trees.

Distribution

Sphagnum capillifolium has been reported from China, India, Korea, Japan, the Russian Far East, Europe, North and South America, and Africa.

A patch of Sphagnum in its natural habitat in Stanley Park
Photo Credit: Yan Zhuang

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Morphology

As a genus, Sphagnum is easy to recognize by its unique branching pattern. The apex has a group of tightly clustered branches, called a capitulum, and on the stem the branches occur in bunches, called fascicles, of four or five branches with some growing downward close to the stem while others spread out at right angles to the stem. Sphagnum capillifolium has branch fascicles with 2 branches spreading and 1 or 2 branches pendant. The shoots of this species vary greatly in colour. They are usually green to yellowish brown and somewhat tinged with pink, but sometimes they are distinctly reddish. The shoots grow in loosely compact tufts and are not shiny when dry. The stem cortex is 2–4 cell layers thick. Sphagnum leaves tend to differ in size and shape depending on whether they are borne on the main stem or on branches. In this species, stem leaves are of moderate size and differentiated in size on the same stem, generally smaller in the upper parts and larger in the lower parts of the stems. They are 1.0–1.5 mm by 0.4–0.7 mm in size, and oblong-ovate to oblong-isosceles-triangular in shape. The upper margins are involute to a nearly cucullate apex; the borders are narrow above and clearly widened below. The branch leaves are a little smaller, only 0.9–1.4 mm by 0.4–0.5 mm, ovate-lanceolate, with involute upper margins and a blunt, dentate apex.

Key identifying features

There are 250 species of Sphagnum. Sphagnum capillifolium has a small, rounded, convex “head” (capitulum), and its branch fascicles have only one hanging branch. Plants are dioicous, with reddish antheridial shoots, and short, broad perigonial leaves with an abruptly narrowed apex. Acute branch leaves and the frequent deep pink to red pigmentation of leaves and stem serve as useful characters although identification in the field is difficult because many species resemble S. capillifolium. It needs detailed microscopic observation to be distinguished from closely related species such as S. rubellum, S. warnstorfi, S. fuscum, and S. girgensohnii. Sphagnum palustre always has two pendent branches per fascicle, so if you find a plant with only one pendent branch per fascicle in Stanley Park, it could be S. capillifolium.

Interesting notes

Sphagnum is a Greek word originally applied for an unknown plant. The specific epithet, capillifolium, means “hair-leafed”, and refers to the relatively narrow leaves of this species.

The Chipewyan used Sphagnum capillifolium as a dish scrubber and for insulating cabins and to fill the cracks between logs. Powder of dried peat moss was also used for repelling flies and mosquitoes. The Chipewyan used burned damp peat moss with alder wood for curing hides and meat. The Woods Cree used red peat mosses in diapers, but only when it lost its red color because otherwise it irritated the skin.

Selected References

Gao, C. and Marshall, R. C. 2006. Moss Flora of China. Available from http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/Moss/China/welcome.shtml

Richard, E.A. 1980. Sphagnaceae (Peat moss family) of New York State. Bulletin No. 442. New York State Museum, Albany, New York.

Schofield, W.B. 1992. Some common mosses of British Columbia, 2nd ed. Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria, Canada.

By Shawkat Ali Yousafzai

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© 2006 Department of Botany, University of British Columbia