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Sphagnum fuscum
Key features for the identification of S. fuscum in macrofossil material include the dark (brown) stems combined with branch leaves having large elliptic pores that are arranged along the sides of the cells on the convex surface. This pore pattern cannot be differentiated from that in S. capillifolium or from that is a number of more woodland species (e.g., S. girgensohnii), however the brown stems are a key feature of S. fuscum that are not found in any other Sphagnum in the section Acutifolum. See S. angustifolium for additional comments.
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Clockwise from top left, S. fuscum in the field, concave leaf cells, convex leaf cells, stem leaf, branch leaf |
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| Habit | Small, brownish plants with dense canopies, one pendant branch visible between capitilum arms. |
| Stems | brown, with non-porose, hyalodermis. |
| Leaves | ovate-lanceolate, minutely truncate at apex; stem leaves lingulate, without fibrils and pores. |
| Leaf Cells | Hyaline cells with large elliptic pores along the sides of the cells on convex surface, somewhat smaller, less conspicuous, rounded pores in central part of cell on concave surface; green cells triangular, exposed on concave surface. |
| Alar Cells | |
| Habitat | Hummocks in bogs and peat plateaus; occasionally forming hummocks in both rich and poor fens. |
| Common Associates | Usually associated with Polytrichum strictum, Pohlia nutans, and Leiomylia anomala. |
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