Another Coastal Plain Sphagnum in Tennessee

Abstract

Sphagnum macrophyllum Bernh. has long been considered to be a coastal plain species in North America. The writer, in company of Dr. R. E. Shanks and Mr. Eddy Clebsch, was surprised to discover this species during the summer of 1947 on the Cumberland Plateau in Bledsoe County, Tennessee. It was growing in a woods in deep, shaded, wet pockets between the bases of ferns (Osmunda cinnamomea and 0. regalis) and sedges (Carex spp.) below an overstory consisting primarily of red maple (Acer rubrum var. tridens) and sour gum (Nyssa sylvatica). At the edge of the woods, herbs which are considered characteristic of the coastal plain included: Aletris farinosa, Liatris sp., Eupatorium rotundifolium, Proserpinaca sp. and Helianthus angustifolius. The relationship between certain vascular plants occurring both on the Cumberland Plateau and the Coastal Plain has been discussed by Braun (1937). Mosses with a similar type of distribution have been mentioned by Sharp (1939). It is rather generally agreed that they represent species which were living in the Southern Appalachians before the emergence of the Coastal Plain. Other Sphagna of Tennessee which show a related type of distribution are: S. Pylaesii Brid. and S. cyclophyllum S. & L. The former species has been found on Mt. LeConte in the Smoky Mountains and its occurrence in North America was mapped by Sharp (1939). The latter moss was found on the edge of the Cumberland Plateau and its distribution discussed by Sharp (1942). The identities of these three Sphagna have been checked by Andrews, who gives a resume of their geographical distribution in his monograph of Sphagna (1913). The specimens mentioned above have been deposited in the herbarium of The University of Tennessee. THE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE, KNOXVILLE 16, TENNESSEE.