Sporophyte:
It is rare to see Sphagnum producing structures for sexual reproduction. I was
excited to see these--I had only seen sporophytes on Sphagnum once before, in a Costa Rican
cloud forest! Those little brown things are called capsules, urns, or sporangia. The top of each sporangium is open, because the
operculum has already been shed to release the spores. Sometimes the sporophytes are placed on little stalks called
pseudopodia. Very cool stuff. Here is a wider angle view of the phenomenon.
As we walked about, Mark and I chit-chatted about many things, including the progress of the North American
Sarracenia Conservancy (NASC), much as I had with Mike Howlett
on a previous trip through Texas.
