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Sphagnum rubellum
Closely related to S. capillifolium and sometimes considered synonymous with it. The features of the two species appear to intergrade in some specimens. When distinct, S. rubellum has oblong stem leaves without pores and fibrils, a flat capitulum, and occurs in wetter habitats. Sphagnum capillifolium has triangular-oblong stem leaves with at least some pores and fibrils, and a rounded capitulum; it is a hummock species of bogs. There are no differences between the branch leaf pore patterns between these species and also those of S. fuscum and in macrofossil analyses, these branch leaf material of these three major peat-forming species must be lumped into ‘oligotrophic acutifolia’; however, often the brown stems of S. fuscum can be used to differentiate this species.
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| Habit | Small, slender reddish-green to pinkish plants with flattened capitulum and one pendent branch visible between capitulum arms. |
| Stems | with pinkish core and well developed hyalodermis of 2-3 layers of enlarged cells, outermost hyalodermis layer without pores. |
| Leaves | ovate-lanceolate and narrowed to a narrowly truncate apex, stem leaves oblong, obtuse, entire, somewhat concave, without (or nearly so) fibrils and pores in upper portion, many hyaline cells subdivided. |
| Leaf Cells | on convex surface with several large, elliptic, ringed pores arranged along the sides of the bulging hyaline cells, on concave surface several large, unringed, round pores positioned in medial portion of cell, green cells triangular, exposed on the concave surface of the leaf. |
| Alar Cells | |
| Habitat | Lawns and low hummocks in bogs and poor fens. Sphagnum rubellum is not found in continental boreal areas. |
| Common Associates |
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