Sphagnum auriculatum Schimp., Mém. Acad. Sci. Sav. Inst. Fr. 15: 80. 1857. Sphagnum subsecundum Nees ex Sturm var. auriculatum (Schimp.) Schlieph., Verh. Zool. Bot. Ges. Wien 15: 411. 1865. Sphagnum subsecundum var. gravetii (Russ.) C. Jens., Bot. Faeroes Dan. Invest. 139. 1901. Sphagnum subsecundum var. gravetii (Russ.) C. Jens. f. hypisopora Russ. ex Broth. in Handel-Mazzetti, Symb. Sin. 4: 8. 1929. Sphagnum subsecundum var. rufescens (Nees & Hornsch.) Hüb., Muscol. Germ. 26. 1833. Sphagnum subsecundum var. yunnanense C. Jens. ex Broth. in Handel-Mazzetti, Symb. Sin. 4: 8. 1929. Type. China: Yunnan, Wei-xi Co., Handel-Mazzetti 8493 (holotype H; isotype KUN).

Plants rather stout, whitish green tinged with brownish color, in dense tufts. Stem cortex in 1 layer, hyaline cells without fibrils; central cylinder thick, yellowish brown. Stem leaves 0.8–1.2 mm × 0.5–0.8 mm, triangular-ligulate, rounded at the apex; borders narrow above, slightly widened below the middle; hyaline cells divided, densely fibrillose, sometimes the basal cells smooth, with large, ringed pores at the corners on the ventral surface, with numerous pores in commissural rows on the dorsal surface. Branches in fascicles of 3–5, with 2 spreading, blunt at the apex. Branch leaves 1.1–1.6 mm × 0.5–0.9 mm, broadly oblong-ovate to ovate-lanceolate, strongly concave, margins involute, borders narrowly differentiated, slightly secund and dentate at the apex; hyaline cells densely fibrillose, with large pores along commissural rows on the dorsal surface, few to no pores on the ventral surface; green cells in cross section elliptic, centrally located. Dioicous. Sporophytes not seen.

Type. Europe.

Chinese specimens examined: SICHUAN: Daliang Shan (Mt.), Handel-Mazzetti 1530 (H, KUN, PE). YUNNAN: see the type information of Sphagnum subsecundum var. yunnanense cited above.

Habitat: in bogs; Distribution: China, Europe, North America, and northern Africa.

Illustrations: Crum 1984 (Fig. 34, d–e, as Sphagnum subsecundum var. rufescens).