Family SPHAGNACEAE

Common names

SPOON-LEAVED SPHAGNUM
PRAIRIE SPHAGNUM

Microhabitat

Usually found in bogs, on wet grassland or ground under forests, or even on rocks and humic soil near streams. This species is fairly common along Tatlow Trail in Stanley Park. We found it 5 m from trailside, in a depression under cedar and hemlock trees.

Distribution

This moss is distributed throughout the world in all continents except Antarctica. It is mainly found in China, the Himalayas, India, Bhutan, Nepal, Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, Russia, Europe, North and South America, Australia, and New Zealand.

A close view of Sphagnum palustre’s capitulum in the lab
Photo Credit: Yan Zhuang

Click on thumbnails to view photos

Morphology

For information on the genus Sphagnum, please see Sphagnum capillifolium on this website. Sphagnum palustre shoots are grayish green to yellowish green, but can sometimes be tinged with brown or pale pink. They form compact cushions. The stem cortex is 3–4 cell layers thick. Stem leaves are 1.0–2.0 mm by 0.8–0.9 mm, oblong-ligulate, and rounded at the apex. Branches occur fascicles of 3–5, with 2–3 spreading branches and 2 pendent branches. The branch leaves are 2.0 mm by 1.5–1.8 mm, imbricate, ovate-circular, cucullate-concave and dorsally roughened at the apex.

Key identifying features

The plant has swollen divergent branches with incurved puffed up leaves that overlap each other. The leaf tips are rounded and light green to brownish green in color. This species is dioicous; antheridial branches are yellowish or pale pinkish and perichaetial leaves are broadly ovate, 5.0 mm by 2.5–3.0 mm, and have narrow borders. Stem leaves and branch leaves are almost equal in length. These features are usually enough to identify this species, but several other species are very closely related to it and difficult to distinguish from it. Sphagnum henryense can be distinguished from S. palustre only on technical microscopic features. Sphagnum papillosum has dull green leafy shoots but it is also difficult to distinguish without microscopic characters. Sphagnum austinii forms orange brown condensed tufts. S. magellanicum is pale to wine-red in color and easy to distinguish from S. palustre on the basis of this color.

Interesting notes

Sphagnum is a Greek word originally applied for an unknown plant. Palustre is a Latin word meaning "marshy, growing in a marsh.” Sphagnum palustre and its relatives are economically important in horticulture both as whole dried shoots and as peat which is partially decomposed plant material made up mostly of Sphagnum.

Selected References

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

Nyholm, E. 1969. Illustrated Moss Flora of Fennoscandia, Musci fasc II. Natural Science Research Council 10435, Stockholm, Sweden.

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

By Shawkat Ali Yousafzai

Home >> Species List >> Sphagnum palustre

Back to Species List

© 2006 Department of Botany, University of British Columbia