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Sphagnum moss?

P

plant#1

I found a couple little patches of moss somewhat nearby my group of sarracenia and they seem to be nearly identical (at least to my untrained eyes) to sphagnum moss growing in some of my pots. They are very small sprouts though. I live in Washington and I'm pretty sure sphagnum grows in my state but i always thought it was up north more. If I am completely wrong in suspecting these mosses to be sphagnum don't be afraid to say so, curiosity may have overcame my better sense. I apologize for the slightly blurry images. Thanks.
DSCF5770.jpg

This is a small strand of sphagnum I grabbed from my nepenthes pot for comparison.
DSCF5769.jpg

Here is a sample from the larger batches next to the sphagnum on the right.
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A picture of one of the batches with some spore capsules which may or may not help?
DSCF5777.jpg

A top view of the mosses in question.
 
Unfortunately, not a single one of those mosses is Sphagnum, including the bigger chunks from other pots!

It's all generic carpet moss (have mercy on me all you bryologists out there :p) that tends to grow over the media over time.
 
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How is it that you can tell? Also the larger chunks are the ones i found but not even the one to the right in the first picture?
 
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None of that is Sphagnum, I assure you.
 
Agreed. No sphagnum there anywhere.
 
Sphagnum moss grows in long ropy strands and each strand is quite large in diameter (about an inch across).

Once you become familiar with it you'll see how sphagnum moss is easily distinguished from the "pest / carpet moss" that commonly comes up in pots of peat.

This time of year and on into summer people are selling and trading live sphagnum so just keep an eye out for offers (here on the forums or on ebay). Once you get some you'll see how different it is from other kinds of mosses.
 
This? I found it in some dried sphagnum i rewetted and left outside for a while. Its the only thing that ever grew.
DSCF5781.jpg
 
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No, sorry, this is most assuredly NOT Sphagnum. Once you've seen real Sphagnum generate, you won't ever mistake the stuff you've got for the real thing.
 
I have found that the only native species of sphagnum on the west coast is called sphagnum compactum and when i looked it up on images this came up. What are the longer strands coming up from the moss? also, is it only the mature stems that have the larger more bushy end? I really cant find much info on exact identification of sphagnum moss except maybe this pdf.
http://phytoimages.siu.edu/imgs/paraman1/r/F_Sphagnum_compactum_231.html
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torfmoose#/media/File:Sphagnum_sp.jpg
http://www.bbsfieldguide.org.uk/sites/default/files/pdfs/otherpdfs/BBS Field Guide Sphagnum Key.pdf
 
  • #10
The longer strands coming up from between the sphagnum are another moss, maybe something like Polytrichum.

It's not quite as apparent, but even very small strands of sphagnum are still quite "bushy". They're also much bigger than normal moss.
The photo below is pretty bad, but it shows a couple different "sizes" of sphagnum. Please ignore the D. kaieteurensis plantlets that are getting swamped by the moss. :p

Xk19PtO.jpg
 
  • #12
This is how sphagnum looks and grows.

2375671254_37d0389259_o.jpg
 
  • #13
I have some extra green sphagnum. Send me a PM and we can hammer out the details if you want some.
 
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