Details

Subject(s)

• Peat mosses—Southern States [Browse]

Related name

• New York Botanical Garden [Browse]
• Shaw, A. Jonathan (Arthur Jonathan) [Browse]
• Shaw, Blanka [Browse]

Series

• Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden ; v. 102. [More in this series]
• Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden, 0077-8931 ; v. 102 [More in this series]

Summary note

"Sphagnum, commonly known as peat moss, is widely used in agriculture, horticulture, and floriculture. Living plants are colorful and add much to the beauty of wetlands. It takes little training to recognize the genus, and most of the sections are almost as easy to recognize. Yet they are scarcely noticed by field botanists, and even bryologists tend to avoid them; they have a reputation of being taxonomically difficult but this applies only to a subset. There are few taxonomic treatments of Sphagnum in North America, yet it is a fascinating genus whose species comprise an integral part of nearly all fresh-water wetlands. Almost all significant critical taxonomic characters are microscopic and require dissections and staining, which can, with a little practice, be easily self-taught. Even with a moderate amount of field experience, however, a novice can learn to recognize sections and some species in the field with certainty (although there are many species that even experts cannot distinguish without a compound microscope). All field identifications need to be confirmed microscopically. This volume will aid those who venture into identifying peat mosses."--Publisher's description.

Bibliographic references

Includes bibliographical references (p. [107]-108) and index.

Contents

• Introduction
• Physiography
• Natural plant communities
• Life history
• Morphology
• Collecting and preparing specimens
• Identification
• Morphological variability
• Systematic treatment: Sphagnum
• Acutifolia
• Squarrosa
• Rigida
• Cuspidata
• Subsecunda
• Isocladus.

Show 12 more Contents items

ISBN

• 9780893275051
• 0893275050

LCCN

2011281913

OCLC

436937223

Other standard number

• 99967657749

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