Specimen 3: Sphangnum palustre

Figure 1: Yellowish, greenish Sphangnum palustre in bog habitat

Figure 2: Sphangnum palustre with many heads and thick branches

Figure 3: A close of a head of  Sphangnum palustre. (Maginfication x8.4)

Figure 4: The plump branches of Sphangnum palustre, resembling green, spiky worms 

(Magfication x15)

Name: Sphangnum palustre
Phylum: Shangnopsida
Family: Sphagnaceae
Common Name: Blunt-leaved peat moss
Collection Date:  September 10, 2015
Habitat: In bog area, found together in big mats and clumps reaching about a foot high off the ground.
Location: Triangle Lake Bog State Nature Preserve, Ravenna, Ohio
Description: Large yellow-green peat moss with thick branches and large, spiky heads. Leaves are tiny and compact, about 1 mm long.
Collector: Linden Glaze

Key used: McKnight, Karl B. et al. 2013. Common Mosses of the Northeast and Appalachians. Princeton University Texts, New Jersey

Keying steps:

Key Feature Path to the Keys (pg. 16):
Key Feature 1: Growth Form.... Peat Moss Key XII pg. 376

Peat Moss Key XII pg. 376
1. Branched leaves with margins strongly margins strongly incurved, 1/3-1/2 diameter of the stem, plump branches.... 2
2. Plants green, yellowish, brownish, lacking red, pink, purple..... 4
4. Plants green to yellowish brown, typically in bogs.... Sphangum palustre