Sphagnum cuspidatum moss, and to avoid contact with the moss against scraped or cut skin. The moss prefers damp conditions, and is relatively hardy in peat bogs. It does not perform as well in completed submerged conditions as it is incapable of producing sufficient amounts of chlorophyll to grow extensively, and natural causes also result in the death of new shoots produced. Like most species of "Sphagnum", this moss has mild antiseptic capabilities. It is very absorbent and acidic, and therefore creates environments not suitable for bacterial growth. These mosses were used up until World War I to pack wounds on 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,