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
Aulacomnium palustre plant communities, and individual moss species often have low cover and/or frequency. Moss species with coverages of 2% to 4% can be common to dominant in boreal communities, although ribbed bog moss attains coverages as great as 40% in some boreal communities. Ribbed bog moss grows in open and forested wetland communities. In unforested northern communities, ribbed bog moss is found in sedge ("Carex" spp.) meadows, sphagnum ("Sphagnum" spp.) peatlands, heath-sedge fens, and willow ("Salix" spp.)-dominated fens. In forests, ribbed bog moss grows in the ground layer of boreal and subboreal white spruce ("Picea glauca"), black spruce ("P. mariana"), mixed