Confusion may arise when florists and horticulturist throw away the term " sphagnum " and " Spanish moss " in conversations about maturate houseplant or improve stain . Sphagnum , also called sphagnum moss , lento decompose to form a dirt amendment phone sphagnum peat or peat moss . Spanish moss is n’t a moss at all and grows in a entirely different surroundings , with different needs and growth habit .

Origins

Sphagnum comprises any number of dependable moss that belong to the botanical genus Sphagnum . It acquire in cool , moist to wet marshes , bogs or wetlands where winter freezes occur . As the plant mature , their dead leafage and stems form a compost peat mat that sustains more new moss plants .

Spanish moss is a bromeliad ( Tillandsia usneoides ) that mature upon and dangles from Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree branch in tropical and semitropical regions . It is not a true moss but a florescence industrial plant .

Identification

Sphagnum moss produce low to the ground in tufted clustering of stems and diminutive leaves that are light green although some coinage have pink , bronze , yellow or reddish foliation . It develop no taller than 4 inches but spreads to potentially more orotund colonies to reckon like a ground cover .

Spanish moss is an epiphyte – growing upon another plant like a tree – and has a long train of tenuous , hair - like leaves that are silvery immature . A individual strand eventually branches and becomes a mop - like lump of foliage that produces tiny chartreuse flowers , which are normally overlooked . strand can be as long as several yards in length .

Features

When actively growing , sphagnum does look like a moss and when dried continue a green to browned color . The plant role hit it up up water and hold it well . Likewise , if the dried sphagnum is allowed to further crumble and become squeeze , it becomes sphagnum peat . Peat is soil - like organic matter that is acidulous in pH , retains moisture and is a dark red - brownish to chocolate brown in color .

Spanish moss resembles a stringy lichen or fungus . When it is wet , its color change to luminousness green but then dry to gray or silvery immature . Excessive dispassion kills Spanish moss , when it shrivel up somewhat and becomes grayish John Brown in color . It does not keep moisture when wet but dry out ; it will rot and decompose if keep too wet .

Function

Sphagnum is typically sell in software program to practice as a decorative dirt - top fertilisation on indoor container plants or to line hanging wire basket . It is also used as a realistic craft product for model train place surround , creche or statuary , or as a groundcover in a terrarium . Decomposed sphagnum is sell as peat or peat moss and is used as a soil conditioner to improve the grain , drain or moisture contentedness of top soil . It is also used as a primary component in grunge - less potting admixture for houseplants or to sow in seeded player .

Spanish moss traditionally was used to material mattresses , aliveness preservers and car seats , accord to Floridata . Today Spanish moss is used ( when dry out ) as a top dressing on interior container plant or as a trade mathematical product , just like sphagnum . Spanish moss does not decompose to become a soil amendment .

Concerns

The Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss Association recognizes that sphagnum moss grows in limited natural areas and thus a primary concern is the conservation of home ground while also ethically harvesting the moss and underlying layers of peat . It accept decades for sphagnum to regenerate into large , deep ecosystem . Today in Canada and the United States there are many producer of sphagnum and peat that harvest materials in order for it to be a more renewable resource .

References

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