Sphagnum

“ The female or archegonia are much like those in the ferns, and the antheridia or male are also, as in the ferns, minute globular organs in which are the male cells. The branches bearing males are greenish, yellow, or even reddish, quite unlike the ashy gray foliage leaves which give to sphagnum its characteristic ashy gray color. Unlike the ferns, the male cells of sphagnum have only two tails, but they nevertheless swim, tail first, to the female, when the time for fertilization comes. ”

“ This species will do either in baskets or pots, filled with rough fibrous peat, sphagnum moss, and good drainage, to which a few small lumps of charcoal may be added. It will also thrive on blocks, with live sphagnum moss about the roots; but cultivated in this manner the plants require a more abundant supply of moisture during the growing season. It is a plant that likes to be grown near the light, and the East India house seems to suit it well. Both those in pots and those in baskets require to be kept moist at the roots during their period of growth ”

“ There is a certain kind of moss called sphagnum, which in large part makes up the peat-producing vegetation. Its roots die annually, but from the living top new roots are sent out each year. The workmen who dig peat understand that if this surface is destroyed the growth of the bed must stop ”

“ The leaf-cells (Fig. 302) of the Sphagnum or bog-moss exhibit a curious departure from the ordinary type; they are large, polygonal, and elongated, and contain spiral fibres loosely coiled in their interior. The young leaf does not differ from the older; both are evolved by a gradual process of differentiation.
Fig. 302.—Section of leaf of Sphagnum moss, showing large cells of spiral fibres and connecting apertures.
Mosses, like liverworts, possess both antheridia and pistillida, which are engaged in the process of fructification. ”

“ The damper spots are spongy with mosses, Hypnum fluitans, Polytrichum commune, and Sphagnum, ranging in colour from deep red to bright green, with pale green cushions of Leucobryum and Aulacomnion palustre, and amongst them Drosera rotundifolia, Carex ampullacea, Eriophorum angustifolium, and the clustered sword-like leaves of Narthecium. The streamlets which issue from the hill-side ripple noisily down their shallow, stony channels, or contract and sink down, and are hidden for awhile beneath overhanging grass and rushes. ”

“ Stove plants of great beauty, often with large and handsomely variegated, usually peltate, leaves, and shortly petiolate glaucous spathes. They are not difficult to grow, with a strong moist heat, and an abundant supply of water to the roots. The soil should consist of fibrous peat, with a little light fibry loam, in large lumps; to this add a good proportion of sphagnum and lumps of charcoal, with plenty of silver sand. Keep the bulbs and soil raised well above the rim of the pots, and finish off with a surfacing of either sphagnum or cocoa-nut fibre. ”

“ In moist places, Sphagnum, or bog-moss, is very common, with many of the allied kinds of moss which compose peat in the alpine districts of Europe.
"The mountain-tops are very bare; affording only Mosses and Lichens, which cling with astonishing pertinacity to the rugged faces of the sharp peaks and piles of rock. ”

“ The capsule (fig. 5) is roundish-ovate, without a peristome, and the operculum is flattened. The grouped arrangement of the upper branches renders the species of Sphagnum easily recognized. The structure of the leaves is also very peculiar and characteristic (fig. 2) . The cells of which they consist are of two kinds, one (fig. 2 a) being colourless, elongate, pointed, and containing a spiral fibre; the other consisting of shorter and narrower obtuse cells, containing chlorophyll, and situated between the former. ”

“ Rainwater falling upon it was all retained, and very little could get away, for the Sphagnum carpet is just like a huge sponge soaking up and retaining the water.
But it sometimes happens in these great upland mosses that there are enormous falls of rain which continue for days. Then the water collects under the living moss-carpet and over the dead peat. It may be gathered together in such quantities that the carpet of living peat above it bursts, and a deluge of peaty water overflows the surrounding country, destroying and spoiling everything that it encounters. ”

“ We find in its ponds and rivers the same species of water-plants, such as Ceratophyllum demersum, Ruppia maritima, and Naias marina, that are familiar to us in the cool and tepid waters of much of the globe. On its level summit, if it remains within the clouds we find in the boggy ground, where Sphagnum thrives, genera that are represented in Fuegia, New Zealand, and the Antarctic islands, such as Acæna, Lagenophora, and Astelia, and the world-ranging Drosera longifolia. ”

“ Its growth is rapid; where more space is afforded, it extends its plants all around, covering the whole surface of the bogs and every kind of woody debris spread upon it. Its tufts go up the roots of the trees, and surround the standing trunks one to two feet high; they pass over the prostrate trees and their branches, and bury them under a thick carpet which preserves them against atmospheric influence. In foggy countries, as in Ireland and Germany, the sphagnum ascends steep slopes and builds its peat deposits from the plains to the tops of high mountains. ”

“ As we ascend, the soft spongy nature of the ground shows that the grass is being replaced by Sphagnum, and in this spongy bed are a number of alpine plants, such as Fostera sedifolia, Oreostylidium subulatum, and others. ”

“ In the cold northern climates sphagnum moss is the most efficient peat producing plant, but in temperate and tropical climates the moss is replaced by the leaves, twigs, trunks, etc., of trees, bushes, and vines. ”

“ We have found good fibrous peat and sphagnum moss to suit well as material for the potting of these plants. They thrive best in small pots. The roots should not be disturbed too often; when, however, they require fresh material to root in, it must be given them, as they are free rooting plants and prefer to have sweet wholesome soil about them. They must also have good drainage, for they need an abundant supply of water, and by giving them efficient drainage the water passes off quickly without doing any harm, which it would do if allowed to become stagnant about them. ”

“ Once rooted they are fed by dusting the outside of the sphagnum with soluble fertilizer and watering it in. As a finishing touch, we threw strands of Spanish moss over the branches. The misty-gray moss thrives, and even flowers.
As further proof that many plants prefer freedom to being confined in pots, try planting just one creeper—an episcia, for example—in the center of a spot filled with suitable soil. See how soon it will garland the top with lush foliage, how freely it flowers. Many plants recommended for hanging baskets are really creepers and are better off when treated this way. ”

“ We find it to keep healthy planted in crocks until the roots make a good start, after which some live sphagnum moss is placed in the pot or basket, and these being provided with plenty of drainage, the roots cannot possibly have any stagnant moisture hanging about them. ”

“ The greater part of the climbing bogs of the world are limited to the moist and cool regions of high latitudes, where species of moss belonging to the genus Sphagnum plentifully flourish. These plants can only grow where they are continuously supplied with a bath of water about their roots. They develop in lake bogs as far south as Mexico, but in the climbing form they are hardly traceable south of New England, and are nowhere extensively developed within the limits of the United States. ”

“ Many growers place a thin layer of fine dead sphagnum moss or of peat over this drainage material, and it certainly makes a useful addition. It is particularly useful in isolated pots or small boxes, as it holds enough moisture to prevent too rapid drying out, while all surplus water is quickly taken off by the coarse material beneath. Over the moss coarse siftings from the soil may be placed, while on top only the finest and best soil should be used. The smaller the seeds, the more care must be exercised in the sowing. ”

“ Sphagnum, beautiful by reason of rich color, gray-green moss, and the object of our long tramp,—pyxie. No botany does it justice, passing it by with the mere mention of its barbarous name, Pyxidanthera barbulata. It might be thought the meanest of all weeds, but is, in truth, the chiefest glory of this wonderful region.
Is it strange we regretted that Time would 70not slacken his pace? I know not where else, in these northern regions, so much is to be seen, and so soon. Spring, elsewhere, is the round year’s strangest child, often too forward, and too often backward ”

“ The capsule opens explosively in dry weather, the operculum and spores being thrown to a distance. The spore on germination forms a short filament which soon broadens out into the thalloid protonema. Some twelve species of Sphagnum are found in Britain.
Andreaeales.—The species of the single genus Andreaea (fig. 14) are small, dark-coloured mosses growing for the most part in tufts on bare rocks in alpine and arctic regions. Four species occur on alpine rocks in Britain. The spore on germination gives rise to a small mass of cells from which one or more short filaments grow. ”

“ In the pots, when well drained by first placing a large piece of potsherd over the bottom and nearly half filling up with pieces broken small and of uniform size, place a thin layer of crude sphagnum, afterwards filling firmly with the mixture above mentioned, and bringing it up more or less in the form of a cone above the rim of the pot, into which the plants should be firmly fixed. Plants which have been propagated by division should be carefully transferred to 32-sized pots. ”

“ There is no grass (turf-making grass is almost unknown in the tropics) , neither are there large trees. Everywhere are low bushes not much more than ten feet tall. The sand beneath them is bare in many places, but is covered in others with various forms of herbage, most of which, instead of being composed of desert forms, as would be expected, is made up of the most typical water-loving plants, among which, Sphagnum (two species) and Utricularia are noteworthy. ”

“ While some of the inferior Hepaticæ or Liverworts, severally consist of little more than a thallus-like frond, among the higher members of this group, and still more among the Mosses and Ferns, we find a distinctly marked stem. [8] Some Archegoniates (or rather Rhizoids) have foliar expansions that are indefinite in their forms; and some have quite definitely-shaped leaves. Roots are possessed by all the more-developed genera of the class; but there are other genera, as Sphagnum, which have no roots. Here the fronds are formed of only a single layer of cells ”

“ I could not even break off a piece of bark with lichen [Pg 77] upon it without some little moss coming too, especially the small thread-mosses (Bryum) which make a home for themselves in every nook and corner of the branches; while the feather-mosses, hair-mosses, cord-mosses, and many others made such a lovely carpet under my feet that each seemed too beautiful to pass by, and they found their way into my basket, crowned at the top with a large mass of the pale-green Sphagnum, or bog-moss, into which I sank more than ankle-deep as I crossed the bog in the centre of the wood on my way home. ”

“ Fallen trees and decaying logs on the ground make a thick tangle, very difficult to penetrate. The underbrush is scanty; mountain maple is rather common, and there are a few young black ashes. Much moss grows on the ground and on the decaying logs.
In a depression two miles south of Little Girl's Point is a mixed growth of arbor-vitae, black spruce, with a few black ashes. The trees are mostly small, none of them exceeding about eight inches in trunk diameter. In August the ground was very wet, there being standing water in some places, and the ground was heavily covered with sphagnum. ”

“ Scleropodium cæspitosum, S. illecebrum; Brachythecium rivulare; Eurhynchium pumilum; Rhynchostegium tenellum; Hypnum Lindbergii, H. stellatum, H. chrysophyllum, H. cordifolium, H. splendens, H. brevirostre, H. loreum, H. palustre.
III. Worcester.—The moss flora of this sub-district has not been published; but the moss herbaria of Mr. Mathews and the writer afford records of about 127 species. Many of these have already been recorded for Warwick, and are therefore omitted here. The following, which are mainly from the Stour sub-district, are the more noteworthy:—
Sphagnum auriculatum ”

“ Spagnum grew in places along the trail, and the fern moss was in evidence on the rocks. False hellebore was abundant, and on the very top stood a poison sumac—a typical bog plant. Yet the summit was rocky and covered for the most part with stunted balsam as thickly matted together as a hedge. The mountain pokes its cold head up into the clouds, and is continually refreshed by the dews of heaven. In some unaccountable manner the swamp plants, as if guided by instinct, ascend and find their natural environment at the top. ”

“ The stalk or trunk is the upward-growing part of the plant, and needs air and light. The root, on the contrary, is the downward-growing part, and it needs soil and darkness. The extreme ends of the root’s various subdivisions are always growing, always young, of delicate structure, and for that reason admirably fitted for imbibing, very much as a fine sponge would do, the liquids with which the soil is impregnated. Because of their facility in absorbing moisture these ever-growing tip-ends are called spongioles. ”