Polytrichum strictum
| Polytrichum strictum | |
|---|---|
_8419.JPG) |
|
| P. strictum | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Division: | Bryophyta |
| Class: | Polytrichopsida |
| Order: | Polytrichales |
| Family: | Polytrichaceae |
| Genus: | Polytrichum |
| Species: | P. strictum |
| Binomial name | |
|
Polytrichum strictum Bridel, J. Bot. (Schrader) |
|
Polytrichum strictum, commonly known as bog haircap moss or strict haircap, is an evergreen and perennial species of moss native to Sphagnum bogs and other moist habitats in temperate climates. It has a circumboreal distribution, and is also found in South America and Antarctica.
Like other species in the Polytrichaceae, Polytrichum strictum has leaves with a single costa, vertical lamellae, a water-repelling cuticle, and rhizoids that appear to facilitate external water movement in addition to anchoring the plant. Dense tufts of slender stems from 6–12 cm form 20–40 cm hummocks in bogs and similar substrates. Leaves are narrowly lanceolate, appressed to the stem when dry and spreading to erect when moist. The reddish awn (formed by the slightly excurrent costa) and smooth, inrolled leaf margins separate P. strictum from other Polytrichum species; only juniper haircap moss (P. juniperinum) shares these attributes.P. strictum, however, can be easily distinguished by the wooly-tomentose white rhizoids that extend up its stems (absent in P. juniperinum), as well as its boggy habitat and predilection for organic soils (in contrast to the weedy nature and preference for mineral soils that characterize P. juniperinum).
Polytrichum strictum is found throughout Canada, the northern half of the United States, Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, northern Europe and Asia, as well as Antarctica and the southern half of South America. It is characteristic of boggy peatland habitats dominated by Sphagnum mosses, but can also be found in wet heaths, tundra, sedge meadows, and peaty forests from low to high elevations; in warmer climates, it is largely confined to relict bogs. Its microhabitat is at the top of peat hummocks, which it often helps to form.
...
Wikipedia