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Sphagnum

I know there are different species but are thye different colors? I found some red sphagnum when I was out recently but wanted to know if it would stay red or would turn green in spring.
Tre
 
yep. Sometimes the same species has many color variations. If you don't give it what it wants (sun, I don't know what else,) it will turn green (like mine :p)
 
Mine's bright yellow with some green. Go figure. I wonder if there is a red or blue type.
 
im pretty shure i have two species, ones sprouted from new zeland sphagnum and looks quite different. of course there are many species of sphagnum in new zealend so thats about all i will ever know
 
there are red ones but not blue ones. If you have noticed blue is kind of rare in nature (in life that is). especially if the color is from pigments... sure, the morpho butterfly is blue but it's because of how the light is refracted by the wing scales.
 
I have green and now red. I had to take an inch square so I can take a picture (hopefully soon) to share with everyone here.
 
before they turned green, I had green, red, and brown. I'm pretty sure they were all diff. species since they look so different (besides the color)
 
Hey, Alpha, I think it was Kew gardens had a blue (no BS) leucophylla in their greenhouse. Mike King knows of it. It is no longer with us because of a staffmember there.
 
  • #10
wow... I didn't know that. I wish I could see one!
But I was talking about sphagnum :p and I did say blue things were rare in nature... not absent
 
  • #11
What did hte staff member do? Not the unforgivable did they?
 
  • #12
blue is rare in plants, even in flowers. although purple isnt. why is that? i dont know enough about pigments to know why there is so much difference in how common purple is versus the rareity of blue. blue orchids are fairly hard to come by, especially true species. of the huge number of orchid species there are only a comparitivly small number of blue species. i have a couple blue Cattleyas and Vandas, not pure species but crosses between two different light blue species. i hope one Cattleya flowers soon. i really want to see it. another place where blue is a rare color is in snakes. blue color morphs are highly prized and expensive in the herp industry.
 
  • #13
did you know that no animal can make red pigments? they have to get them from their food (like flamingoes, etc). although plants and other organisms can.
maybe purple is more common because it's more towards the red and they need to make less blue? maybe blue is hard to make... :p
 
  • #14
I know, Alpha. Just wanted you to know of at least one blue plant. First I ever heard of one.
 
  • #15
cool. Did you know there are white plants?
how about pink plants? (well... what you can see of them :p)
 
  • #16
Alpha, actually i THINK there is a parasitic plant that is all pink. course thats going by my memory so take it for what its worth. but i do believe it attatched itself to the roots of certain trees.
 
  • #17
Aggh! Beware the pink saprophyte! Ewwww! Pink Sphagnum! Ick!
 
  • #18
rattler, you're mostly right, but they don't attach themselves to the roots. They attach themselves and suck the food out of ... mycorhizzal? fungi (the fungi that have a mutualistic relationship with plants. the fungus gives 'em nutrients and the plant gives 'em food)
Monotropa uniflora (indian's pipe) is one of them (the white one) and there's a similar one (i'm too lazy to go look for the species :p but I've seen both) that's pink/creamish... and of course there are others which are red, yellow, etc.
 
  • #19
yeah indians pipe is what i was thinking of i have seen pics of white and pinkish individuals. maybe not the same species but closely related or atleast look alot alike. well i was close enough for you to know what i was talking about atleast even if the parasitic part was wrong. been to long since i last read about them. thanks for clearing me up
smile_m_32.gif
 
  • #20
:p I have issues. I can't just talk without giving links! I tried but It's just too hard LOL
http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/toms_fungi/oct2002.html
and I've seen (and taken pictures of) Monotropa hypopithys and Monotropa uniflora.
I was REALLY shocked when I first saw an indian pipe! I thought I had discovered a new species or something :p (since they tell you that all plants are multicellular, photosynthetic, etc... and these aren't photosynthetic).
I was like... is this a plant? that looks like a flower! but it can't be... maybe it's a fungus? but this IS a flower! how can it be a fungus?
confused.gif

(ehem... so anyway) then I showed it to my teacher and he knew what it was. DARN! LOL
 
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