Sphagnum fimbriatum

Sphagnum fimbriatum

Sphagnum fimbriatum is the second most common among the 16 Sphagnum mosses species that have been observed in Chile (www.musgosdechile.cl). It is a small but slender moss. The colour of the capitulum (or head) is bright green to pale yellow green. The divergent and pedent branches, significantly longer and thinner in comparison to the other two common sphagnum moss species of Chile (Sp. magellanicum y Sp. falcatulum), make it very recognizable. This moss occupies the shade zones in the transition between humid forests and different kinds of mires, from raised bogs  to terrestrialization fens. Sp. fimbriatum is able to grow in both, on the ground or on dead trunks, and can tolerate the highest trophic levels (mesotrophic) and pH values (<6,7) among all the Sphagnum species in Austral Chile. It is a circumpolar and bipolar  species existing in the northern and southern hemisphere).