A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Project Noah Nature School
Sphagnum subsecundum
Sphagnum group Subsecundum. Plant ochre-yellow. Stem: brown-orange, hyaline cells at cross section more or less bistratose. Branch leaves small, secund. Pores of hyaline cells in chain-like rows following the walls of the length of the cell, mostly 1/2-1/3 the distance between fibrils, but sometimes covering stretching the entire distance.
Lake margin peat bog.
I believe this specimen to be S. contortum but since it is a rare species in Washington State, it should be verified.
Spotted on Mar 20, 2014
Submitted on Mar 26, 2014
6 Comments
Great stuff Miles. Thanks for sharing this.
Fun fact! Sphagnum mosses can store up to 20 times their dry weigh in water within their cells! The 120 or so species of sphagnum are all constructed like a sponge, full of empty cells as you can see in this cross-section of a stem. These cells absorb and retain water, enabling accumulations of moss to grow and spread into drier conditions to eventually form large bogs and peat lands. https://upload.facebook.com/projectnoah/...
the pattern is amazing.Have you done a cycas or pine needle? Woud like to see how that looks under the microscope.
Thanks Hema, actually its only the stem cross-section that is displayed, which was easy to get using a razor and scalpel. Its actually the branch leaves that are extremely difficult to get. Luckily for this guy I don't have to get those.
how were you able to get a cross section of this wiggly, slimy specimen?
superb!