Sphagnum mendocinum Sull. & Lesq.

Peatmoss

Sphagnaceae (Peatmoss family)

General Description: A delicate to fairly robust peatmoss that is yellowish-green in color or more or less tinged with brown. It has branches in fasicles of five or six. The branch leaves are slightly undulate and have recurved tips. They are also ovate-lanceolate in shape and strongly involute toward the toothed apex. Stem leaves are rather small, about as wide as long, and ovate-triangular in shape. Plants are dioicous, and have brown antheridial leaves that are otherwise not much different from the regular branch leaves. The fruiting branches are erect and elongate.

Field Identification Tips: As a group, Sphagnum is easy to distinguish from other mosses. The stem contains spirally arranged leaves and fasicles of branches. The younger fasicles are crowded at the apex of the stem into a headlike tuft (called a capitulum) that is a signature feature of the genus. Depending on one's experience, field identification is often possible based on size, color, form, and ecological attributes. However, the use of microscopic cellular features may be required for positive identification. Field identification can be confounded by the tendency of many Sphagnum species to be readily modified by environmental conditions, so that one species may take on the macroscopic appearance of another species.

Similar Species: Although S. mendocinum is reported to have a rather distinctive habit, under some conditions it can resemble S. jensenii. In these cases, technical differences in the leaf pores need to be determined for positive identification. It can apparently also resemble several Sphagnum species not in our flora.

Habitat: Poor to rich fens, apparently always confined to somewhat minerotrophic sites. In different places within its range it is known from near sea level to high in the mountains.

Global Distribution: Its main range is the west coast of North America from northern British Columbia to California, with disjunct inland populations in Idaho, and apparently also in Alaska.

Idaho Distribution: A historical collection is known from the north end of Priest Lake in Bonner County. It is also known from a collection in west-central Idaho County.

References:

Andrus, R. E., and E. F. Layser. 1976. Sphagnum in the northern Rocky Mountains of the United States. The Bryologist 79: 508-511.

Maass, W. S. G. 1967. Studies on the taxonomy and distribution of Sphagnum IV: Sphagnum majus, Sphagnum annulatum, Sphagnum mendocinum, and Sphagnum obtusum in North America. Nova Hedwigia 14: 187-214.