ribbed bog moss

Ribbed bog moss is frequent in arctic to subboreal wetlands. Moss assemblages are typically diverse in northern (arctic, subarctic, and boreal) plant communities, and individual moss species often have low cover and/or frequency. Moss species with coverages of 2% to 4% can be common to dominant in boreal communities, although ribbed bog moss attains coverages as great as 40% in some boreal communities. Ribbed bog moss grows in open and forested wetland communities. In unforested northern communities, ribbed bog moss is found in sedge (Carex spp.) meadows, sphagnum (Sphagnum spp.) peatlands, heath-sedge fens, and willow (Salix spp.)-dominated fens. In forests, ribbed bog moss grows in the ground layer of boreal and subboreal white spruce (Picea glauca), black spruce (P. mariana), mixed spruce-tamarack (Larix laricina), and jack pine (Pinus banksiana) fens and bogs of Alaska, Minnesota, and Canada and in boreal spruce-birch (Betula spp.) forests of Alaska and northwestern Canada. Mosses are abundant in taiga forests of interior Alaska and Canada, forming characteristic strata in nearly every taiga forest type. Less is known of ribbed bog moss associations south and east of Minnesota, although ribbed bog moss has been noted in some swamp, coniferous and/or hardwood bog, and grassland communities. …