Sphagnum rubellum Red Bog-moss

A striking red-coloured, monoicous or dioicous bog-moss which grows in peat bogs, on wet moorland and on flushed banks and slopes in the uplands. It forms dense hummocks with cauliflower-like heads and it is a significant peat-forming moss in raised and blanket bogs. It is widespread throughout much of western and northern Britain including Wales and in West Glamorgan and it is frequent in boggy places on the Gower Commons and wet peaty areas in the South Wales Coalfield. This taxon is probably better known as Sphagnum capillifolium subsp. rubellum, one of two subspecies previously contained within Sphagnum capillifolium (sensu lato). The other, Sphagnum capillifolium subsp. capillifolium, is now refered to as Sphagnum capillifoilium (sensu stricto). The precise distribution and abundance of these two closely related taxa are largely unknown, but Sphagnum rubellum is regarded as the more common. Sporophyte capsules are occasional.