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Oct 9, 2024 10:13 PM CST
Name: Jerry Smith
Bloomingdale, NJ (Zone 6b)
Region: New Jersey Cactus and Succulents Orchids Irises Overwinters Tender Plants Indoors Houseplants
Aquarium Plants Aroids Ponds
sedumzz said: Lovely Sphagnum. Do you have an ID for it?

I still have quite some Sphagnum I need to put under the microscope for an ID.


I have an old American Optical binocular scope. 25X with a huge field of view.

I do not have an ID. I downloaded a key to the Mosses in NJ, but never got any further. Here is the text for the headings of each section. I have to get out a dictionary to understand all of the botanical terms. College was too long ago.

Bowman, Keith. 2017. Field Guide to the Moss Genera in New Jersey With Coefficient of Conservation and Indicator Status. New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, New Jersey Forest Service, Office of Natural Lands Management, Trenton, NJ, 08625. Submitted to United States Environmental Protection Agency, Region 2, State Wetlands Protection Development Grant, Section 104(B)(3); CFDA No. 66.461, CD97225809.

Sphagnaceae
Sphagnum
Substrates: various
Habitats: various open or forested wetland habitats, wet forests
CoC: 7 (highly variable)
Indicator Status: OBL
New Jersey plants are typically upright with young branches arranged spirally around stem and in a distinct head (captitulum) at growing apex. The branches are grouped into fascicles along the stem. The fascicles usually contain branches growing out from the stem (spreading) and along the stem (pendent), but they may rarely only include spreading branches. The pendent branches are typically more slender than spreading branches and have a tendency to adhere to and cover the stem. The branch fascicles typically contain 2 spreading and 1-2 pendent branches, but there may be up to 12-14 per fascicle. Some species may lack branches or the branches may not be clearly differentiated. The branch leaves are normally inrolled and broadest about 25% to 35% the distance from the base and more or less tapered to a hooded (cucullate) to involute apex. The stem leaves more or less flat and usually broadest at the base. The stem and branch leaves are composed of alternating inflated, S-shaped to rhomboid clear (hyaline cells) and narrow linear green (chlorophyllous) cells. The hyaline cells are typically fibrillose and porose on branch leaves while stem leaves may be less fibrillose or not at all and less porose or not at all than the branch leaves although these features are not visible under low magnification. The sporophytes consist of a spherical capsule, a very short seta, and a foot, and are exserted on a pseudopodium of gametophytic tissue.

Sphagnum
Section Sphagnum
The swollen and inflated appearance of the spreading branches is the most distinctive feature of this section. The species in this section are typically large and possess a distinct head (capitulum). The colors are quite variable within the section and within individual species. Plants in this section are variable in color and can be pale green, green, yellowish, red, tan, brown, or dark brown. The individual stems can be green, brown or reddish and possess leaves that are commonly as large as or larger than branch leaves. The leaves can be variously tongue shape often with a broad rounded apex and border fringes. The pendent and spreading branches are differentiated. The pendent branches lack the swollen appearance of the spreading branches and are rather slender and often shorter. The fascicles contain 2 - 3 spreading branches and 1 - 3 pendent branches. The branches tend to be green with variously egg-shaped leaves, which have hood-shaped tips, a rough lower surface, and toothed margins.

Sphagnum
Section Rigida
The plants are low-growing, forming loose mats to compact cushions. The capitulum is often indistinct or sometimes concealed by upward growing branches. The colors are variable, pale green, straw-colored brownish to reddish. The stem leaves are much smaller than the branch leaves, which are tongue-shaped with a broadened at base giving them a rather triangular shape, with an entire margin. The branches are strongly differentiated, with the spreading branches much stronger than pendent branches. The fascicles contain 2 - 3 spreading branches and 2 sometimes 3 pendent branches. The branches are commonly green, though they can range from green to brownish. The branch leaves egg-shaped to long egg-shaped with a broadly, rather short tips which are smooth and toothed, and fine sharp teeth on the margins.

Sphagnum
Section Squarrosa
The plants in this section range in size from medium to quite large. The capitulum is quite distinct in the members of this section. The colors vary from green to yellowish-brown. The stems range from green to dark reddish brown and have egg-shaped to tongue-shaped leaves that have a broad, fringed tip and for the most part lack a distinct border along margins or at the base. The branches are differentiated with the pendent branches thinner, though similar in length, than the spreading branches. The branches are green with leaves that are spreading at right angles from the stem or sometimes just spreading. The leaves are egg-shaped, some long, others spearhead shaped. The leaf margins are entire and in rolled and smooth at the top.

Sphagnum
Section Isocladus
The plants are coarse and robust and usually found floating or submerged, but sometimes stranded by a lowered water table. The capitulum is not distinctly apparent on members of this section, though the leaves are crowded into a tuft. The color of the plants is variable and changes whether the plants are wet or dry. When wet the plants are deep green throughout or dark reddish brown to blackish brown with yellowish branch tips becoming shiny pale green to straw colored or brown when dry. The stems are green to brownish with leaves which are much smaller than branch leaves and broadly triangular in shape. The stem leaves also have entire borders and rounded leaf tips. The branches are not differentiated in appearance. The fascicles contain 2 - 3 branches. The branch stems are green with leaves taper at both ends and can be variously elongated and narrowed and sometime may be egg or tongue-shaped. The leaf tips can be tubular due to in-rolled margins or sometimes just flat and rounded.

Sphagnum
Section Cuspidata
The plants of members of this section are variable ranging from lax, free floating to compact terrestrial forms. The capitulum is usually distinct, though varying in colors including green, whitish, pale, yellow-green to light brownish, and rarely dark-colored. The stems are green, brown, dark brown, sometimes pink in parts. The stem leaves are triangular to tongue-shaped and tend to be smaller than branch leaves, apex apiculate, acute, broad, or erose and split, border narrow or broad at base. The branches are differentiated with the pendent branches more slender and delicate than the spreading branches. The fascicles contain 2 - 3 spreading branches and 1 - 3 pendent branches. The branches are green to pinkish with egg-shaped to lance-shaped leaves, which are usually longer than the stem leaves. The branch leaves can have entire to slightly toothed margins entire and tips which roll inward exposing a smooth lower surface.

Sphagnum
Section Subsecunda
The members of this section can be erect to prostrate, and are extremely variable. The capitulum is not often well-developed. The colors are limited in their ability to aid in identification as individuals can be green, yellowish, light brown, golden brown, reddish brown, or dark brown. The stems are green to dark brown and possess leaves which can be smaller the branch leaves, but in some species they are distinctly larger, and others which lie in between. The branch leaves range from triangular, egg-shape, to tongue-shaped and can have rounded and sometimes raged notched tips. The branches are not always distinctly differentiated, with the spreading and pendent branches very similar. The fascicles contain 1 - 3 spreading branches and sometimes are few as no pendent branches to as many as 4. The branch stems are green with oval, egg-shaped or long-egg-shaped leaves.

Sphagnum
Section Acutifolia
Size is variable in this section with plants ranging from small to robust. The capitulum is distinct in this section. The plants can be green, brown, pink, or red. The stems are green, red or brown with leaves which are similar in size to branch leaves. The stem leaves range in shape from triangular with a narrow tip to tongue-shaped with a narrow base and broad rounded tip. The leaf tips can be entire to lacerate and the leaf borders entire or finely fringed. The branches types are differentiated with spreading branches that are generally longer and thicker than the pendent branches. The fascicles contain 2 - 3 spreading branches and 1 - 2 pendent branches. The branch stems are green with egg-shaped leaves, which can be more or less elongate. The leaf margins entire or toothed and in-rolled near the leaf tip, which is smooth at back.
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Oct 12, 2024 8:00 AM CST
Mid Hudson Valley of N.Y. (Zone 6a)
More pitchers on my AJ01 opened!

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Oct 25, 2024 2:14 PM CST
Name: Jerry Smith
Bloomingdale, NJ (Zone 6b)
Region: New Jersey Cactus and Succulents Orchids Irises Overwinters Tender Plants Indoors Houseplants
Aquarium Plants Aroids Ponds
Been cleaning up my plants recently and taking some photos.
Sarr. "Scarlett Belle" purchased in 2018 at Rare Find Nursery in Jackson, NJ when they sold CP. It is now in a 8" pot.
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Sarr. "Fledgling" (S. leucophylla x S. minor) purchased 2023 from Sarracenia Northwest with winnings from their monthly raffle! Now still in a 4" pot. Good Fall pitchers.
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I also bought a Sarr. "Black Widow" from SNW from the raffle winnings. It is also in a 4" pot and is bursting it right now. Got some work to do in the Spring. It was grown kind of buried in the middle of my plants and I now know I was shading it unintentionally with the other plants. I'm reserving judgement on what it looks like till at least next year.
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On Nov 14, 2023 I noticed a seedling growing in the middle of a pot of S. leucophylla. It looked a lot like a S. minor plant:
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I divided that S. leuco and removed that seedling. The plate is 10 1/4" diameter:
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I planted it in a 4" pot and here it is today, almost one year older. I'm having my doubts now about it being a S. minor. Its looking more like a "Scarlett Belle". I'll have to keep an eye on it.
Thumb of 2024-10-25/Jerrytheplater/9a1524

Last year I received three divisions of seed grown Sarracenia from a member of a cactus and succulent forum I frequent. We made a trade. I received them in November and stored them in my refrigerator until this spring when I planted them on Feb 24, 2024. They are in 6" pots. He is calling this plant a polyhybrid. Meaning it is of multiple and complex parentage! In other words, he is not sure what it is, but it is looking pretty good with a really nice Fall pitcher show. Must have a lot of S. leucophylla in it.
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Nov 14, 2024 1:25 PM CST
Fairfax VA (Zone 7a)
Sedums Sempervivums Hybridizer Houseplants Cactus and Succulents Garden Procrastinator
Plant Lover: Loves 'em all! Garden Photography Tropicals Native Plants and Wildflowers Miniature Gardening Wild Plant Hunter
Nice Sarrs! I only have one small one.

Utricularia alpina x endressii
Uploaded by sedumzz

Uploaded by sedumzz

Uploaded by sedumzz


I have new microscope images of the glands of U. involvens and U. inflata, but need to crop them.
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Nov 14, 2024 6:29 PM CST
Name: Jerry Smith
Bloomingdale, NJ (Zone 6b)
Region: New Jersey Cactus and Succulents Orchids Irises Overwinters Tender Plants Indoors Houseplants
Aquarium Plants Aroids Ponds
sedumzz said: Nice Sarrs! I only have one small one.

Utricularia alpina x endressii
Uploaded by sedumzz

Uploaded by sedumzz

Uploaded by sedumzz


I have new microscope images of the glands of U. involvens and U. inflata, but need to crop them.

What kind of microscope? camera? I used the Nikon at work with a digital camera body attached to the camera port, but I'm retired now and that is not possible any more. I have an old AO binocular "Cycloptic" scope and was going to buy an adaptor and software to use my Canon Mirrorless on it, but decided I had better use for the $700.00. I knew I would not really use it a lot.
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Nov 15, 2024 9:26 AM CST
Fairfax VA (Zone 7a)
Sedums Sempervivums Hybridizer Houseplants Cactus and Succulents Garden Procrastinator
Plant Lover: Loves 'em all! Garden Photography Tropicals Native Plants and Wildflowers Miniature Gardening Wild Plant Hunter
Hello Jerry,
I use a Swift M5 Series compound microscope. To take images, I use a phone camera which I hold up to the lens. It takes a bit of practice and adjusting but eventually I got used to it.
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Nov 16, 2024 8:57 PM CST
Name: Jerry Smith
Bloomingdale, NJ (Zone 6b)
Region: New Jersey Cactus and Succulents Orchids Irises Overwinters Tender Plants Indoors Houseplants
Aquarium Plants Aroids Ponds
sedumzz said: Hello Jerry,
I use a Swift M5 Series compound microscope. To take images, I use a phone camera which I hold up to the lens. It takes a bit of practice and adjusting but eventually I got used to it.

Thanks Sedumzz. Way back on Oct 10, 2006 I held an Olympus Digital Camera up to the eyepiece on one of the AO Stereo Binocular Cycloptic scopes at work. I rested the lens on the eyepiece and tried to hold it still. Here's an uneditted shot of Utricularia gibba with vignetting. The graduations are 0.01" per division. Do you get vignetting with your shots?



I'm a dinosaur and still use a flip phone, although maybe my wife would let me experiment with hers. She is upset at me for not getting a smart phone!!!!

Here's that same shot after cropping to remove the vignetting. Now that I'm looking at it again, I guess I could have been less extreme on the cropping.

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Last edited by Jerrytheplater Nov 16, 2024 9:02 PM Icon for preview
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Nov 16, 2024 9:09 PM CST
Name: Jerry Smith
Bloomingdale, NJ (Zone 6b)
Region: New Jersey Cactus and Succulents Orchids Irises Overwinters Tender Plants Indoors Houseplants
Aquarium Plants Aroids Ponds
Here are more of the U. gibba from that same date:
Looking into the opening of the bladder:


Top View:
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Nov 17, 2024 7:50 AM CST
Fairfax VA (Zone 7a)
Sedums Sempervivums Hybridizer Houseplants Cactus and Succulents Garden Procrastinator
Plant Lover: Loves 'em all! Garden Photography Tropicals Native Plants and Wildflowers Miniature Gardening Wild Plant Hunter
Very nice shots. I do get vignetting, I just leave it in.

I have to hover my phone camera a little bit above the lens in order to get a good shot.

Here's a photo of the internal glands of a U. longifolia trap


I guess I removed the vignette on this picture of a single internal glands of a U. cornuta trap
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Nov 18, 2024 10:57 AM CST
Name: Jerry Smith
Bloomingdale, NJ (Zone 6b)
Region: New Jersey Cactus and Succulents Orchids Irises Overwinters Tender Plants Indoors Houseplants
Aquarium Plants Aroids Ponds
Nice resolution.
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Jan 1, 2025 12:02 PM CST
Mid Hudson Valley of N.Y. (Zone 6a)
Happy New Year all!
Another shot of my Utricularia minutissima. This thing likes to bloom!


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Jan 20, 2025 7:54 PM CST
California Central Valley (Zone 8b)
Region: California
Daughter put in an order to Glass Aqua, an aquarium plant company and I couldn't resist looking. They had tissue culture Drosera rotundifolia - I'm pretty sure that's the plant we saw out in the wilds of Idaho. The first photo is the top of the "plant", the second is the bottom and the third is my attempt to save every one of them. There was just a thin layer of gel with 10,000 microscopic plants growing all the way around it. Impossible to separate into two layers so I broke it into chunks.

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I ended up with two 4" pots from about a 2" slab of Drosera. So far, still all green.
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Jan 28, 2025 2:46 PM CST
Name: Jerry Smith
Bloomingdale, NJ (Zone 6b)
Region: New Jersey Cactus and Succulents Orchids Irises Overwinters Tender Plants Indoors Houseplants
Aquarium Plants Aroids Ponds
Lucy68 said: Daughter put in an order to Glass Aqua, an aquarium plant company and I couldn't resist looking. They had tissue culture Drosera rotundifolia - I'm pretty sure that's the plant we saw out in the wilds of Idaho. The first photo is the top of the "plant", the second is the bottom and the third is my attempt to save every one of them. There was just a thin layer of gel with 10,000 microscopic plants growing all the way around it. Impossible to separate into two layers so I broke it into chunks.

Thumb of 2025-01-21/Lucy68/c8083d

Thumb of 2025-01-21/Lucy68/598f8f

Thumb of 2025-01-21/Lucy68/c22a21

I ended up with two 4" pots from about a 2" slab of Drosera. So far, still all green.

Interesting. I've never seen Sundews offered as Tissue Culture plants. Mine are all in their winter hibernacula stage now. I collected mine in the NJ Pine Barrens with the property owners permission. I wonder if yours will form hibernacula. I read that those that grow in warmer climates will not form them. Those from colder areas need to have the cold rest in winter.
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Jan 28, 2025 3:44 PM CST
Fairfax VA (Zone 7a)
Sedums Sempervivums Hybridizer Houseplants Cactus and Succulents Garden Procrastinator
Plant Lover: Loves 'em all! Garden Photography Tropicals Native Plants and Wildflowers Miniature Gardening Wild Plant Hunter
That sounds about right. Jerry, the Drosera you sent me are in their hibernacula, along with the other bog plants. I'll get photos later!
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Jan 28, 2025 5:22 PM CST
California Central Valley (Zone 8b)
Region: California
Hmmm... I assumed they would go dormant and form the hibernacula because of the species. But maybe not? I ended up with 2 pots so maybe one will spend the winter with the Flytrap and Cobra Lilies and one will stay inside.
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Jan 31, 2025 1:33 PM CST
Mid Hudson Valley of N.Y. (Zone 6a)
Lucy68 said: Hmmm... I assumed they would go dormant and form the hibernacula because of the species. But maybe not? I ended up with 2 pots so maybe one will spend the winter with the Flytrap and Cobra Lilies and one will stay inside.


Some sundews don't form a hibernacula and come back from their roots, some do form one.
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Jan 31, 2025 2:13 PM CST
Name: Jerry Smith
Bloomingdale, NJ (Zone 6b)
Region: New Jersey Cactus and Succulents Orchids Irises Overwinters Tender Plants Indoors Houseplants
Aquarium Plants Aroids Ponds
Lucy68 said: Hmmm... I assumed they would go dormant and form the hibernacula because of the species. But maybe not? I ended up with 2 pots so maybe one will spend the winter with the Flytrap and Cobra Lilies and one will stay inside.

Do you own the book The Savage Garden? Peter discusses how the formation of the hibernacula in those species that can form one is controlled by the origin of the plant. Within the same species, those growing in cold winter areas will form hibernacula. Those of the same species growing say in Cuba, will not form a hibernacula. Same species in both cases. If I sent seedlings down to my daughter in Pompano Beach, FL, they would not do well with the constant warmth. They would require a winter in the refrigerator.
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Jan 31, 2025 2:31 PM CST
Name: Jerry Smith
Bloomingdale, NJ (Zone 6b)
Region: New Jersey Cactus and Succulents Orchids Irises Overwinters Tender Plants Indoors Houseplants
Aquarium Plants Aroids Ponds
My Ping. gigantea Alfred Lau #13 has been blooming since Jan 20. The first (and only) bloom is still there and not wilted as of today. It is the first time it has bloomed under my care. I am forgetting exactly when I bought it, but I'm pretty sure it was at least two or three years ago. I bought it from Sarracenia Northwest.

I posted somewhere asking about fertilizing these plants. Maybe it was on the ICPS site, or maybe our local Mid-Atlantic Carnivorous Plant Society Facebook page, or maybe on this forum. One answer said to use dilute fertilizer misted on the leaves. I ended up not using any fertilizer out of caution.

But, this plant got fed by an outbreak of Fungus Gnats on my cork slab holding my branch mounted orchid Platystele aurea. That was maybe around November. I could see the larva moving through the LFS on top of the slab. I saw that they were even getting through the cork to the underside. I got flying adults but to my knowledge none of my other plants got infested. The Ping got fed though by multiple Fungus Gnats. Pretty Cool. I don't see them anymore as I let the slab dry for a day or so.

So, maybe that feeding triggered blooming.


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Jan 31, 2025 4:33 PM CST
California Central Valley (Zone 8b)
Region: California
D. rotundifolia is one of the drosera that forms a hibernaculum in winter, at least the wild versions do. I assumed that was something built into the genetic survival of the species and wouldn't change with a change in environment.

I have dealt mostly with California and Nevada native plants. They do not change their ways because of changes in water or temperature. They either stick with their genetics or fail to thrive.

But back to D. rotundifolia, I wonder if (like Dionaea) plants not allowed to go dormant have a shorter life expectancy.

Congrats on getting your Pings to bloom.

PS: Yes, I have 'The Savage Garden'
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Jan 31, 2025 10:07 PM CST
Name: Jerry Smith
Bloomingdale, NJ (Zone 6b)
Region: New Jersey Cactus and Succulents Orchids Irises Overwinters Tender Plants Indoors Houseplants
Aquarium Plants Aroids Ponds
Thanks for the congrats. I do get happy when plants under my care bloom.

I need to go out and take mid winter hibernacula photos of my three NJ sundews: D. rotundifolia, D. filiformis, D. intermedia. I have them in mid April when they are opening up, but not like they are now.

Here's rotundifolia on Nov 17, 2018. The pot is 3" square. Leaves have died, but not decomposed or disturbed yet. :
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Last edited by Jerrytheplater Jan 31, 2025 10:11 PM Icon for preview

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