CHAPTER IX 
MOSSES 
100. General character.—Mosses are very abundant and 
familiar plants that occur almost everywhere. They 
grow in all conditions of moisture, from submerged to very 
dry. Many of them can endure drying out wonderfully; 
and hence they can grow in very much exposed situations, 
as do many lichens. In fact, lichens and mosses, being 
able to grow in the most exposed situations, are the first 
plants to appear upon bare rocks and ground, and are the 
last plants one sees in climbing high mountains or in going 
into very high latitudes. 
Mosses have great power of vegetative multiplication, 
new leafy branches putting out from old ones indefinitely, 
thus forming thick carpets and masses. Bog mosses often 
completely fill up bogs or small ponds and lakes with a dense 
growth, which dies below and continues to grow above so 
long as the conditions are favorable. These quaking bogs 
or “mosses,” as they are sometimes called, furnish very 
treacherous footing unless rendered firmer by other plants. 
101. Peat.—In moss-filled bogs the water and the dense 
vegetation shut off the lower strata of moss from complete 
decay; and they become modified into a coaly substance 
called peat, which may accumulate to considerable thickness 
by the continued upward growth of the mass of moss. 
Other marsh plants are associated with mosses in the 
formation of peat, and often the preservation of these 
plants is remarkable. In fact, the water of peat-bogs is 
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