We first became interested in Sphagnum moss because of its use in World War I as a wound dressing. Because Sphagnum moss can absorb 20 times its weight in water, it was used as a wound dressing in battlefield wounds where there is a lot of blood and exudate. As we began to investigate the properties of Sphagnum moss we found that is was known that Sphagnum moss was able to absorb positively charged ions, called cations, from water. These cations include iron and calcium; calcium being the cause of scale formation (as calcium carbonate). The moss has a very specific mechanism for doing this, much like ion exchange, which is what occurs in a water softener.
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