Want to live forever, cure your warts or never need another plaster? Than look after your local bog.
Over the centuries, the plants that live on bogs have been ascribed a whole host of special properties – some magical, some practical. Earlier people living on the margins of peatlands managed to eke out a living by using their local bog as pharmacy, builders’ merchants and grocers.
Spagnum moss
Many people know that sphagnum moss was used as a wound dressing during the First World War. Even as late as the Second World War, girl guides were sent out to collect the moss for use in hospitals. The moss contains penicillin – an effective antibiotic. This was no cottage industry either. It was estimated that 500,000kg was processed every month, when it was cleaned, dried and put into thin muslin bags that could expand as the sphagnum absorbed the fluids from the wounds. Sphagnum moss has also been used as toilet paper and nappies because of its amazing ability to absorb liquids. And of course it’s the building block of peatlands for that very reason.
Sundew
Sundews were ascribed much greater powers. The ‘dew’, the sticky globules on the leaves that the plant uses to catch insects, never evaporates in the sun. From this, people concluded that if you put the dew on your skin it would prevent you from aging, or at the very least cure your warts and freckles. Sadly, unlike sphagnum moss’s properties, these claims have not yet been found to have any basis in fact! More prosaically, it was used to make a yellow dye for wool, and more recently provided an ingredient for medicines for respiratory disorders.
Heather
Heather (sometimes known as ling) had a host of uses. The word ling comes from the Anglo-Saxon ‘lig’, meaning ‘fire’. But besides its widespread use as a fuel, ling was made into thatch, bedding, floor mats, insulation, fences, rope, ale, tea, baskets, medicines and brushes!
Bog myrtle
Bog myrtle was used as a midge repellent and was mixed into heather beds to keep parasites at bay – as well as keeping the bedding sweet smelling. Even today, it is used as an ingredient in commercial midge repellents.
Cotton grass
The fluffy white seed heads of cotton grass carpet many peatlands in late spring and summer. While the fibres are too short to actually use as cotton, they were traditionally used to make candle wicks, stuffing pillows and even making wound dressings.
Nowadays we don’t need to look to these peatland plants to support our everyday living. However, just like the flora of the tropical rainforests, we still have a lot to discover about the possible uses of these fascinating plants, so we need to ensure they remain as a valuable resource for the future. And while we don’t rely on them these days, there are many kinds of wildlife for whom peatlands are vital to their existence, providing a home, food, shelter and a place to breed.
If you’d like to know more about peatland restoration in Scotland, see our Peatland Action web pages.
Scotland's Nature 
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