SPHAGNUM

Sphagnum

Sphagnum is a genus of approximately 120 species of mosses. Sphagnum accumulations can store water, since both living and dead plants can hold large quantities of water inside their cells; plants may hold from 16-26 times as much water as their dry weight depending on the species. The empty cells help retain water in drier conditions. Hence, as sphagnum moss grows, it can slowly spread into drier conditions, forming larger peatlands, both raised bogs and blanket bogs. These peat accumulations then provide habitat for a wide array of peatland plants, including sedges and ericaceous shrubs, as well as orchids and carnivorous plants. Sphagnum and the peat ...

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sphagnum

Noun

  1. Any of various widely distributed mosses, of the genus Sphagnum, which slowly decompose to form peat.


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: sphagnum
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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