Sphagnum moss saved lives

In quiet corners all over Galloway Sphagnum moss grows. The moss covers fallen tree branches, stones, rocks, and flourishes un-noticed today and just a part of the carpet of greenery.

In the First and Second World Wars however, the moss was a vital element in the battle not to kill but to save lives. Sphagnum moss was used extensively in field dressings to be applied to wounds. The moss can hold up to 20 times its dry weight in liquid – ideal for soaking up the blood. And it is extremely acidic which hinders the growth of harmful bacteria and fungi.

In the First World War Sir Dennis Forman, who lived at Beattock, south of Moffat in Annandale, was responsible for organising the collection of the moss throughout the whole of Scotland. Much of the picking was done by hard-working members of the Women's Auxiliary Corps. Sir Dennis wrote at autobiography, Son of Adam, which is quoted on page 105, of the book Annandale, Scotland in Old Photographs, by David Carroll, Sutton Publishing, 1998, ISBN 0 7509 1625 7.

“All manner of sphagnum detritus was piled in the Moss Room,' Sir Denis recalls. 'There were wooden monorails and wide flat sleepers and two-wheeled wooden trolley-like giant scooters...There were jute sacks in their thousands, frames, Heath Robinson machines of all kinds...and in one corner, like grain in a Pharoh's tomb, a dusty pile of sphagnum moss itself.”

Older people around Wigtown Bay, in Galloway, still remember the moss being collected in local woods and damp places.

A young woodsman who works today amidst the trees confirmed that the sphagnum moss is flourishing where it is left in peace. Apparently, it is very popular with the deer. If they injure themselves or have aches and pains they lie down on patches of the moss.

The biggest threat today to the moss, also known as peat moss, is the draining of wetlands to create more farmland. Large scale extraction of moss, which could see deposits laid down over thousands of years stripped in a week, has largely stopped. In England 90 per cent of peat bogs have been destroyed. Today, New Zealand has developed a sustainable moss industry. The moss is very popular in a wide range of products, particularly for gardeners where it is added to bagged soils to increase water retention capacity. Moss is also essential in growing mushrooms and it makes a fine habitat in which to breed tarantula spiders.

Ancient human bodies have been preserved for thousands of years in moss bogs. Although the bones have dissolved, the skin, hair and clothing is marvellously preserved. Food was also preserved and “bog butters” dating back 2,000 years have been found in Scotland and Ireland. In the past dried moss was used by people living in the Arctic as insulation.

If you are thinking, however, of using moss as a home remedy, be careful. If applied directly to the skin, abrasions, cuts and scratches can allow the spores of the Sporotrichosis disease to enter the body. Perhaps that is why in the dressings used in wars it was carefully packed inside bandages to keep it from direct contact with open wounds.

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