Plate 1 figs. a–h · 6 observations
This species has been photographed under an open licence only 6 times, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.
Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.
Where it actually grows measured, from 138 observations
| Condition | 5th percentile | Median | 95th percentile |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coldest month, mean daily low | -23.6 °C | -10.8 °C | -2.7 °C |
| Warmest month, mean daily high | 13.9 °C | 20.5 °C | 24.0 °C |
| Annual rainfall | 553 mm | 714 mm | 2,313 mm |
| Rainfall in the driest quarter | 62 mm | 110 mm | 341 mm |
It is found where winters are severely cold. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 138 research-grade observations of Sphagnum riparium that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.
This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.
Also published as 55 synonyms
A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.
- Sphagnum cuspidatum subsp. riparium (Ångstr.) Bott.
- Sphagnum cuspidatum subsp. riparium (Ångstr.) Lindb.
- Sphagnum cuspidatum var. capillifolium Sendtn.
- Sphagnum cuspidatum var. riparium (Ångstr.) Schlieph.
- Sphagnum cuspidatum var. speciosum Russow
- Sphagnum cuspidatum var. squarrosulum C.E.O.Jensen
- Sphagnum intermedium subsp. riparium (Ångstr.) Lindb.
- Sphagnum intermedium var. riparium (Ångstr.) Braithw.
- Sphagnum intermedium var. speciosum (Russow) Braithw.
- Sphagnum recurvum var. preuschoffii H.Klinggr.
- Sphagnum recurvum var. riparium (Ångstr.) C.Hartm.
- Sphagnum recurvum var. robustum Lindb.
- Sphagnum recurvum var. speciosum (Russow) Warnst.
- Sphagnum recurvum var. spectabile Schlieph.
- Sphagnum riparium f. brachycladum Warnst.
- Sphagnum riparium f. gracilescens Russow ex C.E.O.Jensen
- Sphagnum riparium f. molle Russow ex C.E.O.Jensen
- Sphagnum riparium f. plumosum Russow ex C.E.O.Jensen
- Sphagnum riparium f. spectabile Russow ex Warnst.
- Sphagnum riparium f. squarrosulum (C.E.O.Jensen) Warnst.
- Sphagnum riparium f. teres Russow ex C.E.O.Jensen
- Sphagnum riparium f. teres Russow ex C.E.O.Jensen
- Sphagnum riparium subsp. platyphyllum Russow
- Sphagnum riparium subsp. stenophyllum (Russow ex C.E.O.Jensen) Russow
and 31 more.
Sourcesevery claim on this page
- World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
- iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
- Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite. It has no native range either: Kew's checklist does not cover this taxon.