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Sphagnum Moss

Page history last edited by PBworks 16 years, 7 months ago
Sphagnum is one of the most important plants on bogs. It absorbs 20 times its dry weight of water and increases soil acidity. Its ability to absorb liquids and its antiseptic qualities resulted in it’s use as a wound dressing in both world wars – it has also been used as a nappy liner. Sphagnum can grow on the mineral poor surface of the Peatlands because it has the ability to take in minerals in rainwater. It exchanges hydrogen ions from its cells for the minerals in the surrounding rainwater. It is this export of hydrogen ions that results in the acidic nature of bogs. The ability to use the minerals in rainwater has allowed Sphagnum species to dominate peatlands and to perpetuate the conditions to which it is so ideally suited.

 

 

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