Knowing how people used sphagnum moss before, you can successfully apply this information in practice. It has long been known that it was nature that gave us all the best for housekeeping and maintaining health.
Definition
Moss) is a genus of mosses that live in upland and transitional bogs. The upper part of the plant grows annually, and the bottom dies off. When it practically does not rot and serves to form peat. This is due to the presence of carbolic acid in the sphagnum body, which is a strong antiseptic.
Sphagnum usually appears in humid areas. Due to its ability to absorb and retain moisture, the accumulation of such moss leads to waterlogging. At the same time, the plant has a number of properties that make it invaluable in the household. Today there are great amount information about how people used sphagnum moss before.
Application in construction
Due to its low thermal conductivity, such moss was actively used in construction. So, special powder or plates were made from it, which were used in the construction of walls. But don't think that this technology is a thing of the past. It is quite possible to use it today, because sphagnum has a number of undeniable advantages over modern building materials:
Sphagnum is an indispensable component in the preparation of earthen mixtures for indoor plants... The fact is that in a dry state, moss absorbs water 20 times more than its own mass. Thus, the soil stays moist longer and systematically nourishes the plant roots. If you are planning to leave for a short while, but are not sure that your neighbors will water your plants conscientiously, make sure they are planted in soil mixed with finely chopped sphagnum.
Use in animal husbandry
How did people use sphagnum moss before? This plant has played an important role in almost all spheres of human life. So, sphagnum has always served as a good bedding for pets. And bactericidal qualities prevented the spread of cattle diseases. In addition, in barns where sphagnum is used, there will never be an unpleasant smell.
Appreciated beneficial features sphagnum and beekeepers. Moss bedding is placed under the hives for insulation and absorption excess moisture... In addition, sphagnum will disinfect the air, which will prevent the spread of diseases that are dangerous for bees.
Medical use
The use of sphagnum moss in medicine is due to its following properties:
- good hygroscopicity, which means the ability to quickly absorb moisture (several times better than the usual cotton wool);
- good breathability (even when wet);
- antibacterial properties.
All of the above characteristics make sphagnum an excellent dressing material. For the treatment of wounds, this moss has been used since ancient times, and in war time this material has saved more than one life. Here are some more ways to use sphagnum in medicine:
- treatment of frostbite and burns;
- the imposition of a splint (sphagnum acts as a layer that protects the skin);
- treatment of toenail and nail fungus (special moss insoles are used for this);
- treatment of psoriasis and other skin diseases of an infectious nature (moss is infused in hot water, and then they take a bath with the addition of this agent);
- the fight against staphylococcal lesions (you need to wash the wound with a liquid wrung out after collecting sphagnum).
Sphagnum moss: use in the garden
Avid gardeners and gardeners have long appreciated the benefits of sphagnum. This moss contributes to the normal development of young plants, as well as the recovery of "sick" specimens. And, of course, gardeners could not fail to note the hygroscopic properties of sphagnum. Moss helps to maintain normal soil moisture, even in extreme heat. Accumulating moisture during rain or watering, sphagnum gradually releases it as the soil dries up.
Conclusion
An undeservedly forgotten plant is sphagnum moss. Using it in different areas livelihood is becoming popular again. So, in medical circles they talk about the release of dressings based on it. Also, this moss can bring considerable profit to builders. In the meantime, livestock breeders and gardeners actively and successfully use sphagnum in their activities.
Sphagnum moss - branched monoecious plant, a representative of white mosses.
Distributed in the taiga, in the tundra, in swampy areas.
Did you know?The largest amount of sphagnum grows in moderate climatic zone northern hemisphere of the Earth, the greatest diversity - in South America.
Sphagnum moss - what is it
Peat moss is a marsh plant from which peat is formed. Spore perennials grow every year in the upper part, dying off in the lower part. It is easy to give an answer to how sphagnum peat moss feeds. The plant absorbs water, photosynthesizes, forms organic matter from water and oxygen. On the stem and leaves there are water-storing cells surrounded by dark green photosynthetic cells, united into a single network. The sphagnum moss has a leg and a spore capsule. It is sphagnum that plays an important role in swamping forests and turning lakes into swamps. Where sphagnum moss grows (most often conifers or broadleaf forests), increased humidity.
Useful properties of moss for indoor plants
Sphagnum moss is widely used in horticulture and floriculture due to a wide range valuable properties. Florists are interested in what substances sphagnum contains. Peat moss contains phenolic substances, triterpene compounds, sugars, salts, pectins. Moss prevents the appearance of pus in wounds, it is often used as a dressing that does not need to be sterilized before use.
Did you know? It has a huge suction capacity, surpasses even cotton wool in this.
Useful properties of moss- perfectly breathable, resists bacteria, has a disinfecting and antifungal effect.
How to properly use sphagnum moss in home floriculture
The use of sphagnum moss in gardening will help to avoid many soil problems. It is necessary to cut the moss and add it to the substrate, which will loosen the soil, increase its moisture capacity, and form the desired structure. It will also take away the accumulated water after watering, giving it to the roots. Sphagnum moss is a branched perennial. and you should understand what a plant is can overmoisten the soil.
Important! Sphagnum increases the acidity of the soil; in the mixture, its volume should not exceed 10%.
Sphagnum moss is very useful for indoor plants. By covering the pot with moss, you can maintain the correct moisture level around the crown, but do not keep it constantly on the surface of the soil so as not to provoke root death. For Saintpaulias, a mixture of 1 part of leafy soil, fertile garden soil, river sand and chopped sphagnum. Gloxinia will benefit from a mixture of Vermion soil, charcoal, 1 teaspoon dolomite flour and handfuls of chopped sphagnum with the addition of perlite or vermiculite.
Orchids will thank the owner for the mixture of pine bark, charcoal and finely chopped fern roots. Put a large, coarse bark down, and medium-sized on top. Try to ensure that the substrate fits under the base of the rhizome, but does not completely overlap it. Sphagnum moss may not have the expected effect without knowing how to use it. Before use, sphagnum mosses need to be scalded, brought to room temperature, squeezed out and left in a closed plastic bag for several days.
How to prepare peat moss
Remembering where sphagnum lives, it is worth thinking about the choice suitable place. The best place for collecting moss - in the immediate vicinity of trees, where it has the least amount of wateriness, marshland is not suitable. There are several ways to collect the moss: either completely remove it from the roots, which will entail further thorough cleaning, but the volume of harvested raw materials will be larger, or by cutting off the upper part with a knife, but the resulting material will be several times less. You can collect and fold peat moss in bunches. You need to harvest sphagnum manually.
Sphagnum.
Other names: white moss, peat moss, sphagnum.
Description. Sphagnum moss is a perennial herb of the Sphagnaceae family. The plant has no root system. The stem is thin, branching, low (up to 20 cm). In the upper part, the growth of the stem is not limited, but Bottom part the stem dies off over time, forming peat.
Stem branches are arranged in clusters. The top of the stem ends with a head. Leaves are sessile, small, light green, without a vein. Leaves are composed of two types of cells. Green narrow cells are connected by their ends and form a reticular structure in which organic matter moves. Photosynthesis takes place in these cells. Between the narrow green cells are transparent large dead cells, in the form of membranes.
The outside of the stem is also covered with such dead cells. Dead cells act as reservoirs that store water, store it, and feed living cells with it. Through the available holes, dead cells draw in water vapor from the surrounding air and condense them, converting them into water.
Unlike other mosses, sphagnum does not have thin filaments, which consist of one row of cells, and thanks to which mosses are fixed in the soil and feed through them. Sphagnum moss absorbs water and minerals throughout its entire surface. It grows in water, in raised bogs, covering large areas a light green carpet. Plants grow densely, thus supporting each other. Sphagnum moss releases hydrogen ions into water, increasing its acidity. The water of the raised bogs in which sphagnum grows is acidic, has a brownish color, a low content of minerals and a high content of humic components.
The upper part of the sphagnum is light green, and the lower is whitish. Dying off, the lower part of the plant does not rot but forms peat. This is because the plant emits not only hydrogen ions, but also other substances that interfere with the decay process. Also, there is very little oxygen in the water, in the environment of which decay occurs.
Why is sphagnum also called white moss? Because when it dries, it turns white. This creates white moss. Sphagnum is distributed mainly in the Northern Hemisphere (in the forest and tundra zone). In the Southern Hemisphere, it grows high in the mountains, less often on the plains (in the temperate zone). Sphagnum reproduces by spores and vegetatively.
Exists a large number of sphagnum species, some of them are more preferable for medicinal use. Among them are bog sphagnum, megalanic, holly, brown and others.
Collection and procurement of raw materials. For medicinal purposes, the entire living part of sphagnum is used and harvested. Harvesting is carried out from May to September in dry, sunny weather. Sphagnum is collected by hand, pulling it out of the water. Before laying out the sphagnum for drying, it is preliminarily squeezed out by hand, the browned lower parts that have died out, as well as other debris, are removed. Then it is laid out on the fabric. thin layer and dried in the sun in a ventilated place.
Sphagnum dries slowly. When dry, its green parts become white... This is a sign that the raw material is dry enough. Optimum humidity dried raw material is considered to be 25-30%. Dried white moss is stored in plastic or paper bags. The shelf life of raw materials is 1 year.
The composition of the plant. Sphagnum contains phenol-like substance sphagnol, fiber, triterpene compounds, sugars, resins, pectin substances, proteins, minerals.
Useful properties, application.
Sphagnum has antiseptic, bactericidal, disinfectant, antifungal, hygroscopic properties.
The property of sphagnum to disinfect is due to the content of sphagnol in it, and the structure of this plant is such that it is hygroscopic, that is, it has the property of absorbing and retaining a lot of moisture well. The combination of these properties makes it possible to successfully use sphagnum as a dressing material.
Sphagnum is not applied directly to the wounds. It is wrapped in sterile gauze and such bandages are applied to gunshot, radiation, purulent wounds. Sphagnum has long been used in medical purposes... It was also used during the war (WWII).
For diseases of the joints and for cleansing the body, they take baths with infusion of sphagnum. For this, 100 grams of dry sphagnum are crushed, poured into 3 liters hot water(about 80 ° C), insist in a sealed container until cool, filter, wring out.
The infusion is added to a bath of water at a comfortable temperature. Take a bath for no more than 20 minutes, 2 times a week. Only 8-10 baths. Taking such a bath promotes increased sweating, therefore, after the procedure, you must put on a warm robe and lie under the blanket. If you put dry sphagnum in your shoes, then it will good protection from fungus and from sweat.
Another use of sphagnum.
This plant is used not only for medicinal purposes. Currently, sphagnum moss is widely used in plant growing and floriculture. It gives the earth looseness, and because of its hygroscopicity, it contributes to uniform moisture in the earthy coma.
The contained sphagnol has bactericidal action, which prevents disease and decay of plant roots. It is also used as a mulching layer.
Sphagnum, which has a low degree of decomposition, is a valuable raw material for the production of effective sorbents.
White moss is also used as insulation material, which is laid between the logs during the construction of premises made of wood. The hygroscopic properties of sphagnum make it possible to smooth out fluctuations in humidity. This will make the house or bathhouse stand for much longer.
SPHAGNUM
Sphagnum is a large genus of plants that includes over 200 species of mosses, similar in structure and ecology.
Taxonomy and names
Sphagnum belongs to the highest, or, as they are also called, leafy plants. This division is rather arbitrary, but characterizes moss as a plant with differentiated organs. Sphagnum belongs to the Mossy, or Bryophytes, department, the most primitive department of modern higher plants.
The order Sphagnales (Sphagnales) differs from green mosses in a number of anatomical, morphological and biological characteristics. It includes only one family - Sphagnum (Shagnaceae) and the only genus Shagnum, uniting about 350 species (according to other data 320). In the photo, marsh sphagnum (Shagnum palustre).
Synonymous names for sphagnum:
White moss - comes from the white or light green color of some species; due to its white color, sphagnum moss is sometimes confused with some types of lichens.
peat moss - due to the plant's ability to form peat bogs;
sphagnum.
Habitat and place in biocenoses
The main distribution of sphagnum mosses is the tundra and forest zones of the Northern Hemisphere: in the northern and middle part of the forest zone, taiga, tundra, forest-tundra, in Siberia, on Far East and the Caucasus.
In the Southern Hemisphere, sphagnum moss is less common, growing mainly in mountainous areas. Although sphagnum is a typical Holarctic plant, the greatest species diversity of this genus is found in South America.
Ecosystems where sphagnum mosses grow:
raised bogs (also called sphagnum);
swampy coniferous or mixed forests;
forest-tundra zone with a predominance conifers trees;
wet meadows with poor drainage and water stagnation;
river valleys with swampy banks, here on pine forest terraces the sphagnum range can extend far to the south, right up to the steppe zone;
mountainous areas (alpine and subalpine belt).
Morphological features
All types of sphagnum have morphological features inherent only in mosses - they lack roots. But sphagnum has its own specific traits distinguishing it from green mosses.
Contrary to the commonly used name "white moss", most sphagnum species are green, brown or reddish in color.
Sphagnum is clearly differentiated into stem and leaves. Branched stems, caulidia, grow vertically, reaching a height of 20 cm. Densely growing sphagnum stems form pads or tufts. Sphagnum moss grows only in the upper part, and the lower one gradually dies off, forming peat.
Salient feature sphagnum - the absence in adult plants of rhizoids, replacing the roots of moss. In moss sprouting from the spore, rhizoids are formed, but soon die along with bottom sphagnum.
The structure of the sphagnum stem is simple: in the center there is a core, the inner layer consists of elongated cells with thickened walls (prosenchyme), and the outside of the stem is covered with cells of the epidermis. Sphagnum multilayer epidermis is called hyaloderma. This layer is made up of dead, empty, transparent cells that have pores in them. The cells are always filled with water and dissolved mineral components, they play the role of a conductive tissue.
Thanks to hyalodermal cells and aquiferous leaf cells, sphagnum has such a property as hygroscopicity. Dry moss can increase its mass up to thirty times when it gets into water.
At the end of each branch, the leaves are collected in a bunch - this is a feature of sphagnum mosses.
Leaves, or phyllidia, are of two types of sphagnum - stem and branch. The branch leaves are smaller than the stem leaves and are arranged like shingles: they overlap one another.
Sphagnum moss leaves consist of only one layer of cells. Their difference from the leaves of green mosses is that sphagnum does not have a central leaf vein.
Leaf cells are divided into living and dead cells. This is due to different cellular functions... Living (assimilating) cells contain chlorophyll, they are narrow, worm-like, long. The dead are diamond-shaped, absorb and retain water.
Photo: white moss - sphagnum / marsh sphagnum
Breeding features
Mosses are the only representatives of higher plants in which the gametophyte, that is, the haploid generation, dominates in the development cycle. The diploid generation is a sporophyte, strongly reduced and is a spore-bearing capsule with a pedicle.
Sphagnum, like all representatives of the Bryophyte department, reproduces with the help of spores and with the help of gametes (sexual reproduction).
The gametophytic generation is what people call sphagnum (stem with leaves). Among hundreds of sphagnum species, there are monoecious and dioecious representatives. Sphagnum gametes are formed in archegonia and antheridia.
Features of the chemical composition
Sphagnum moss contains:
tannins - thanks to them, the moss is stored for hundreds of years without decay;
sphagnol is a phenolic compound that blocks the development of putrefactive bacteria, playing the role of a natural antiseptic;
polysaccharides (starch, glucose and some cellulose);
terpenes;
proteins and amino acids;
silicon.
Species of the genus Sfagnum (Shagnum)
Usually, the word "sphagnum" is understood as marsh sphagnum (Shagnum palustre).
In swampy pine forests, it often grows with. compact (S. compactum) and s. oak (S. nemoreum).
On sphagnum bogs, typical species of the village. brown (S. fuscun), p. deceptive (S.fallax).
In low-lying bogs, in alder forests and boggy groves - with. central (S.centrale), p. blunt (S. obtusum), p. fringed (S. fimbriatum).
Role in biocenoses and economic use
In nature, white mosses are the founders and main plant components of sphagnum bogs. Thanks to sphagnol, white mosses do not rot, but decompose very slowly, while creating an acidic environment.
On raised bogs, sphagnum forms low-mineralized, but high-calorie peat. The percentage of ash in such peat does not exceed 6%, it is used as fuel, construction and thermal insulation material, chemical raw materials, and also as a substrate (or additive to the substrate) for growing flowers and crops.
V agriculture dry sphagnum is also used as bedding for pets. In medicine, peat serves as an antiseptic and dressing material. Sphagnum extracts help in the treatment of rheumatism, intestinal diseases, infectious skin diseases caused by staphylococci.
Hello, dear forum users and site guests! Sphagnum moss is one of the most essential ingredients for growing violets. Its properties and applications have been written many times, so I will not dwell on this. Ready-made moss is rarely sold in stores, so most of the townspeople have to order it online or search on their own... Today I will tell you how you can find moss in an unfamiliar forest.
Usually winter in our area rarely lasts more than 2 months, and moss can be harvested at any time. This year, the snow melted only in mid-April and the moss stocks came to an end, and we had to go out into the forest on the very first warm day. In all the lowlands there is melt water, forming picturesque lakes.
The moss has not yet woken up, soaked through and through with snow water.
But these are familiar places, so I quickly typed required amount moss for current needs. And last spring I just missed the bus and decided to look for moss in another forest, where, I was told, it is. Finding moss in an unfamiliar forest is more difficult, but quite a solvable task if you know what signs to look for. Sphagnum grows in swampy lowlands, along the banks of forest streams and small swamp lakes.
In coniferous forests and oak forests, the place is not suitable for him, there he is extremely rare to be found. Tall aspen trees, which love wet lowlands, can become a reference point, and under them you can find sphagnum.
In early spring, aspens bloom with gray fluffy catkins, showering them all around.
So the long-forgotten touching song sounded:
"Alder earring, light, like a downy one,
But if you touch her, everything will turn out to be wrong in the world ... "
This time everything is so with us, under the aspens it is the most necessary sphagnum. The sphagnum that wakes up after winter begins to grow rapidly, forming soft green pillows.
There are many varieties of sphagnum, but the most suitable for violets is this. In the hollows with forest streams, overgrown with alder, there is a species of sphagnum with thick, up to 25 cm long stems juicy Green colour but such moss rarely grows in pillows and is often tightly stitched with sharp marsh grass.
In dry times, moss pillows dry out and become almost white, for which sphagnum is also called white moss.
Often there are pillows of sphagnum with thin openwork stalks, but such moss is not very good, it dries quickly and crumbles into dust.
But on my way I met a distant relative of our Saintpaulias - a forest violet.
Yes, not one - but with a "tenant"
Forest blood-sucking ticks have grown in incredible numbers in recent decades. They wake up in early spring with the first warm days, and go into hibernation in late August - early September.
And now they multiply en masse in places of recreation of townspeople and in all spontaneous forest dumps.
Sometimes you just want to scream, seeing all this: today you brought the girl to the barbecue and did not take your garbage back, feeling like a hero, but tomorrow you will come here with your children, and ticks, in gratitude for the shelter, can cripple them for life.
I rarely return now from the forest without intruders. Here's one crawling along the lining of my windbreaker ...
But, to be afraid of ticks - do not go to the forest, and I cannot deprive myself of such pleasure. Spring is an amazing time. The forest is covered with green smoke, white anemones are fluttering in the wind.
Delicate and touching Caroliskis - liverworms look trustingly and sincerely.
The first mushrooms woke up in the heat, I don't dare to check how edible they are :)
Bright marigolds shine with deceptive fire - they ran into the light and bathed in icy water.
Hopefully my walk will help someone find moss in an unfamiliar forest. But even if he is not there (well, he does not grow in these parts!), Then the impressions of the walk will be enough for a long time.