Sphagnum erect, leafy, branched gametophyte with chlorophyllose cells and hyaline cells. This stage dominates the environment where "Sphagnum" grows, obliterating and burying the protonema and eventually building up into layers of dead moss called peat. Carpets of living "Sphagnum" may be attacked by various fungi, and one fungus that is also a mushroom, "Sphagnurus paluster", produces conspicuous dead patches. When this fungus and other agarics attack the protonema, "Sphagnum" is induced to produce nonphotosynthetic gemmae that can survive the fungal attack and months later germinate to produce new protonema and leafy gametophytes. It is unknown whether the leafy stage can produce
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,