Sphagnum

sfag'num, a sort of moss growing in bogs and moist places. The upper ends of the branches produce soft, feathery, lightish green branchlets. There are about twenty-five species in North America. They form the characteristic and chief vegetation of the peat bogs. The lower parts of the stems turn into peat while the upper parts continue to extend branches and multiply. New plants are propagated by means of spores also. The tiny, translucent leaves and stems are penetrated by water ducts that enable a bunch of the moss to hold water like a sponge. Sphagnum is accordingly a favorite material with the nurseryman, who employs it to pack around the roots of nursery stock in shipment. A sphagnum bog, even on high land and well ditched, holds water tenaciously. The dead moss packs down but so long as it is moist it is proof against decay. See Peat