[Sphagnum cuspidatum var. dusenii C. Jens. ex Warnst., moreSphagnum cuspidatum var. majus Russow, Sphagnum dusenii C. Jens. ex Russ. & Warnst. in Russ., Sphagnum dusenii var. majus Cardot, Sphagnum laxifolium var. majus (Russow) Röll, Sphagnum majus subsp. majus , Sphagnum mendocinum var. majus (Russow) Warnst., Sphagnum vogesiacum Warnst.]
Plants golden brown to dark brown; branches strongly laterally curved. Stem leaves 0.8-1.3 mm, usually appressed. Branch leaves 2-2.8 mm, straight to usually strongly subsecund; hyaline cells on convex surface often with 2 pores per fibril interval, pores usually less than 1/3 cell diameter. Spores 33-38 µm; both surfaces roughly verrucate scabrate; proximal laesura less than 0.5 spore radius.
Forming wet carpets but habitat unclear due to recent taxonomic separation from subsp. norvegicum; in North America, subsp. majus seems to occur in ombrotrophic to poor fen habitats, often on floating mats, mixed with S. cuspidatum in eastern North America; low to moderate elevations; B.C., Nfld. and Labr. (Nfld.), N.S., Ont., Que.; Alaska, Conn., Maine, Mass., Mich., Minn., N.H., N.J., Pa., Vt., Wis.; Eurasia.
Sporophytes of subsp. majus are rare. In the field it is typically darker brown than subsp. norvegicum, while its capitulum is denser and less stellate appearing than in the latter. See also discussion under 23. Sphagnum annulatum.
Plants: moderate-sized to robust, fairly weak-stemmed, lax in submersed forms, ± sprawling in emergent froms; golden brown to dark brown; capitulum weakly 5-radiate, branches straight to strongly laterally curved. Stems: green to pale brown, superficial cortex only weakly differentiated. Stem: leaves triangular-lingulate, 0.8–1.4 mm, spreading to appressed; apex acute to narrowly obtuse, hyaline cells nonseptate and fibrillose near apex. Branches: unranked or weakly 5-ranked, straight to strongly curved, leaves moderately elongated at distal end. Branch: fascicles with 2 spreading and 1–2 pendent branches. Branch: stems green but sometimes reddish at proximal end, with cortex enlarged with conspicuous retort cells. Branch: leaves ovate-lanceolate to narrowly ovate-lanceolate, 1.8–3.4 mm; straight to strongly subsecund; weakly undulate and recurved when dry; margins entire; hyaline cells on convex surface with 1–2 free pores per fibril interval, concave surface aporose or rarely with a few wall thinnings in cell ends and angles; chlorophyllous cells trapezoidal in transverse section and narrowly exposed on concave surface. Sexual: condition dioicous. Spores: 33–40 µm. North America, Eurasia.