SPHAGNUM BARTLETTIANUM Warnst.
Bartlett's Peat Moss
FAMILY: Sphagnaceae
CHARACTERS: Small
rather delicate plants, mostly tinged with red, to pink-red to red-mottled, but
sometimes light green. Branches short,
slender, curved downward; branch leaves small, loosely inserted. Microscopically, green cells triangular to
trapezoidal in section, with broadest exposure on the inner surface. Stem leaves rather long and narrow,
oblong-triangular to oblong, with hyaline cells normally fibrillose throughout
SIMILAR SPECIES: Sphagnum capillifolium is a small delicate red-tinged plant with
stem leaves similarly shaped to those of S.
bartlettianum, but those of S. bartlettianum are longer. The branch leaves of S. bartlettianum are
often 5-ranked (especially when moist) with slender tips spreading when dry
whereas the branch leaves of S. capillifolium are not particularly
ranked or spreading. Sphagnum magellanicum is red, but the
plants are much larger.
TOTAL RANGE: Coastal
from the Florida panhandle to New England, very rare inland in NY, NC and OH.
STATE RANGE:
Post-1980 record from Adams
County.
STATE STATUS:
1996-1997: Added; 1998 to present:
Endangered
HABITAT: On sandy
and peaty soils in shrubby bogs, and hummock bases in swampy areas.
HAZARDS: Drainage of
habitat; overshading by woody species as a result of succession.
RECOVERY POTENTIAL:
Unknown, but probably poor.
INVENTORY GUIDELINES:
Collect only small samples of
plants, including stems and capitula.
Note the color of fresh material.
COMMENTS: The Ohio
population is from a mixed Sphagnum
mat in a seepy area on a hillside.
During 1998 and 1999 many unsuccessful attempts were made to recollect
this species.
SELECTED
REFERENCES:
Andrus, R.E. 1980. Sphagnaceae (Peat
Moss Family) of New York State.
Contributions to a Flora of New York State III. New York State Museum Bulletin No. 442. Albany, NY.
89 p.
Crum, H.A. 1984.
Sphagnopsida. North America Flora
Series II, pt. 11. The New York Botanical
Garden, Bronx, N.Y. 180 p.
Crum, H.A. and L.E. Anderson. 1981. Mosses of Eastern
North America. Volumes 1 & 2. Columbia University Press. NY. 1328 pp.
Reese, W.D.
1984. Mosses of the Gulf South
from Rio Grande to the Apalachicola.
Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge, LA. 252 p.
Division of Natural
Areas and Preserves
Ohio Department of
Natural Resources
Created: 4/2001
Barbara K. Andreas
Database Code: SPPL.434