MOSSES 



PEAT-MOSSES 



Genus SPHAGNUM, Dill. 



THE peat- or bog-mosses are usually of large size, green or 

 gray, dark-red, yellow, or purple, growing over extensive areas 

 in the wet places of lowlands or mountain summits. They are 

 attractive both to travellers and to botanists and are always a 

 source of wonder on account of their habit of changing colour 

 with every change in the humidity of the air. The individual 

 plants are so perfectly preserved when carefully pressed that they 

 are attractive to the collector, whether artist or botanist. Nature 

 employs these mosses to redeem shallow waters for the use of 

 higher plants. The geologist solves many problems by reading 

 their life-history. The economist uses them for fuel in localities 

 where other vegetation is scanty, and finds them useful packing 

 for plants on account of their ability to hold moisture. 



The great Linnaeus calls them " flowers of Lapland " and tells 

 us that the Lapland mothers use them for their children's cradles. 



THE METHOD BY WHICH PEAT-MOSSES ENCROACH 

 UPON WATER TO FORM LAND 



The bog-moss plays an important part in the formation of 

 peat. In a peat-moor the plants on the surface are the tips and 

 branches of the very same plants whose under parts long ago 

 died away. 



When a peat-moss spore germinates in water, a meshwork 

 of fine thread-like strands is formed, called the protonema; upon 

 this protonema bud-like growths occur which in later stages are 

 known as the peat-moss plants. These plants very soon lose 

 any root-like growth which they may have possessed, and con- 

 tinue to grow, year after year, from the apex of the stem or from 

 lateral branches just below the apex of the stem. 



109 



