Species description:
Species name indicating the swampy habitat.

Comments:
S. palustre and its close relatives form the most valuable horticultural used peat. In the province S. henryense is probably more common than S. palustre.

Distinguishing characteristics:
The swollen divergent branches with in­curved inflated leaves overlapping each other, leaf tips rounded, plus light green to brownish-green colour and dark green stems, are usually enough to separate this species, but several others very closely resemble it.

Habit:
Tall, pale green to brownish turfs of closely to loosely packed plants with conspicuously swollen, divergent branches and heads of branches bearing broadly ovate leaves.

Similar Species:
S. henryense is virtually impossible to distinguish from S. palustre except on technical microscopic features. S. papillosum tends to show rather dull green, leafy shoots but can be distinguished con­vincingly only on microscopic characters (papillae on the inner faces of cell walls). S. austinii forms orange-brown, relatively condensed tufts (microscopically the comb-like ornamentation of the walls of the elon­gate cells is distinctive). S. magellanicum is usually pale to wine-red, a colour absent in S. palustre. S. compactum, a species of subalpine cliffs and lowland peatland is frequently orange but can be troublesome to distinguish from S. palustre without microscopic examination (S. com­pactum lacks fibril thickenings in the outer cells of the stem).

If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.

Illustration Source:  Some Common Mosses of BC