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Sphagnum Species ID!

Nepenthesis

Formerly known as Pineapple
I got a starter culture from Peter and he said that he thought it came from Northern USA to Canada. It grows really fast and it is not a compact species. It is green, but I have seen some red at the store I got it at and it is all the same species. When Peter gave me a bit of red, it grew green over top of it. He said he didn't know the species. Another thing he said is that it turns a tan color in the winter, and I've seen it in that condition, but it is still very green. Just has some tan/whitish coloring to some parts. Here's some pictures...

Closeup of my starter culture at the beginning of May...

2yjoh0k.jpg


A few strands I plucked out around that time...

140akr6.jpg


How it looked when it was in my terrarium under less light...

sovat3.jpg


Here it is growing in constant high humidity in a sealed, large container, but until now it has been growing in intense shade, so it is growing out in longer strands upwards and such...

qrm5mp.jpg


Can you guys give me any ID? Maybe point me in the direction of a few species from the Northern USA that are how I described or how they are in the pictures I have? If you need any pictures of specific areas of the moss or a better closeup or another group picture, let me know and I can provide it. :)

TIA! :awesome:
 
Sphagnum palustre
 
Palustre is brown if given enough light and right conditions
 
Sphagnum palustre

Thanks, looks like it. :)

Palustre is brown if given enough light and right conditions

I didn't see any brown at the place I got it from, but I did see a bit or purpley/red, which was from the same species. Can palustre be purpley/red?

Sphagnum needsmorelightii.

Mhm... Well the pic from the starter culture was when it was getting a good amount of sun at the place I bought it from. Here's my thickest culture right now...

1o5b40.jpg


By next spring they should be packed dense with sphag. Do those still look like they need more light? Those get the most light in the greenhouse. Everything is grown in my greenhouse now, no terrariums except those sealed clear containers. Do you think that I should leave the lids off of the containers so they can get a bit more light, or leave them on so they can get more humidity?
 
With 151 to 350 species of Sphagnum moss it is a futile exercise to ID from a few photographs:

http://homepage.univie.ac.at/eva.temsch/classif.html
Classification Criteria of Sphagnum Species

Classification of sphagna takes experience, and is sometimes impossible without the aid of a microscope. The following criteria are applied to distinguish between species:

  • Number of branches per fascicle
  • Number of pendent and spreading branches, and their degree of differentiation
  • Shape of branch leaves (squarrose, hooded, etc.)
  • Direction of stem leaves (upward, downward or horizontal)
  • Shape of the head
  • Size and prominence of the terminal bud
  • Secondary pigments
  • Shape and location of chlorocytes
  • Spiral fortification of hyalocytes
  • Number, size, and fortification of pores
  • Structure of hyalocyte cell walls (papillose or other ornamentations)
 
Do those still look like they need more light?

Yes, they look a bit light-starved to me: soft, floppy growth. Anything you can do to increase light intensity?

And I agree with NaN, identifying the species is going to be nearly impossible with so many in the genus. Why worry about that? It's Sphagnum! There....I've ID'd it for you! LOL
 
Yes, they look a bit light-starved to me: soft, floppy growth. Anything you can do to increase light intensity?

And I agree with NaN, identifying the species is going to be nearly impossible with so many in the genus. Why worry about that? It's Sphagnum! There....I've ID'd it for you! LOL

Eh... Well I can't exactly move the greenhouse into the sun. My parents wanted it out of view so that they wouldn't have to see it when they looked outside lol. It kinda ended up with a bit of light in the winter and a ton in the summer. In winter, it gets three hours of direct sunlight and the rest of the day it is in bright, indirect light (not shade, just bright indirect light).

However, it IS under 50% shade cloth. I put it on in April for the summer. Should it come off over winter? I feel like that may solve a bit of the problem. Is it safe to take it off at this point in time? If I do so, how should I go about taking it off? Just peel it back like a foot per day for a week and on the eighth day take it off? (GH is 8ft long).

Thanks! :)
 
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