Sphagnum palustre less frequent just North of London and west through to Bristol and patches in the Republic of Ireland. It is widespread in Scotland, Wales, Orkney, Shetland and the Isle of Man. It can be found on Scilly. "Sphagnum palustre" is not on the IUCN red list of threatened species and therefore isn’t considered to be threatened or endangered. In a project called Mossclone which is part of the 7th framework program of the European Union the peat moss "Sphagnum palustre" will be multiplied in moss bioreactors to create a measuring tool to track air quality in Europe. Sphagnum palustre Sphagnum
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,