Specimen #9 Moss

Specimen 9: Moss

Figure 1: Leaves are green to yellowish-brown with wormlike branches; capsules are brown to black, and spherical.

Figure 2: Leaves are egg-shaped, sometimes with tips bent away from the branch up to 45 degrees.

Figure 3: Leaves lack teeth and a midrib; cells are triangular in this species.

Scientific Name: Sphagnum palustre
Common Name: Blunt-leaved Peat Moss
Order: Sphagnales
Family: Sphagnaceae
Collection Date: September 10, 2015
Habitat: Margins of streams, bogs, ponds; more typically shaded areas than in full sun
Location: Triangle Lake - Kent, OH
Description: Large, upright, 8-25 cm tall, green/yellow-brown, plump, wormlike branches, leaves have no midrib; capsules are uncommon, brown to black, spherical
Collector: Breanna Beltz

Key Used: McKnight, K.B, Rohrer, J.R., et al. 2013. Common Mosses of the Northeast and Appalachians. Princeton University Press. Princeton, NJ.

Key Steps:

• Peat Moss
• Key XII, pp. 376-379
• Branches plump, wormlike, branched leaves with margins strongly incurved, forming blunt, hooded tips --> 2
• Plants green, yellowish --> 4
• Spreading branches with tapering ends, green to yellowish brown --> Sphagnum palustre pp. 325

Ecology:
This species was used for a European Union project at the University of Freiburg in Germany to track air pollution, with hopes of using biotechnology to then fight pollution (Euronews).

Links:

http://www.bbsfieldguide.org.uk/sites/default/files/pdfs/mosses/Sphagnum_palustre.pdf
http://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=SPPA70
http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=15692
http://www.euronews.com/2013/06/03/biotechnology-to-fight-air-pollution/

Bryopsida Links:

http://tolweb.org/Bryopsida
http://www.dlia.org/class-bryopsida
http://plants.usda.gov/java/ClassificationServlet?source=profile&symbol=Bryopsida&display=31
http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/bryophyta.htm
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/plants/bryophyta/bryophyta.html