The Ability of Sphagnum to Absorb Cations Preferentially from Dilute Solutions Resembling Natural Waters

During a visit to the Beinn Eighe Nature Reserve in 1955, two water samples were taken from a bog in the pine forest a little west of Rhua Noa, near the foot of the low cliffs of Cambrian limestone, from which the drainage entering the bog appeared mainly to come. The bog was roughly circular, about 60 ft (18 m) in diameter, and flat. One sample was from a small stream entering the bog on the west side, and the other from a shallow pool near the centre. The vegetation of the bog, consisting principally of a carpet of Sphagnum magellanicum, S. papillosum, S. plumulosum, S. quinquefarium, S. rubellum, S. subsecundum and S. tenellum, with scattered angiosperms, predominantly Erica tetralix, Eriophorum angustifolium, Narthecium ossifragum, Rhynchospora alba, Drosera rotundifolia and Molinia caerulea, was either at or a little above water level. Sphagnum cuspidatum was frequent in the pools. The visit was made in July, after a period of exceptionally dry weather, and it is likely that the surface of the bog was normally swampy.