Sphagnum very important soil and topper for most carnivorous plants. In the 7th Framework Programme Mossclone peat mosses multiplied in moss bioreactors are developed as a new tool to monitor air pollution. Sphagnum is also used in air layering, a method of propagation used to propagate woody stems like guavas. A ball of Sphagnum is tied against a midway ringed bark of a branch still attached on the parent plant using a translucent plastic material (vitalon). Native Americans used peat moss as diaper material for their babies and is used to wick away the moisture and absorb the excrement from the
Sphagnum short-lived, and consists almost entirely of a shiny green, spherical spore capsule that becomes black with spores. Sporophytes are raised on stalks to facilitate spore dispersal, but unlike other mosses, "Sphagnum" stalks are produced by the maternal gametophyte. Tetrahedral haploid spores are produced in the sporophyte by meiosis, which are then dispersed when the capsule explosively discharges its cap, called an operculum, and shoots the spores some distance. The spores germinate to produce minute protonemae, which start as filaments, can become thalloid, and can produce a few rhizoids. Soon afterwards, the protonema develops buds and these differentiate into its characteristic,