This book serves as a guide for indentifying Sphagnum mosses in both field and laboratory. Forty species, typical of more continental parts of northern Europe, but also commonly found elsewhere in the northern hemisphere, are presented. The primary emphasis is on the illustrations, mainly photographs, depicting both macroscopic and microscopic characteristics of the species.

The book wil help bryologists, field ecologistists and paleo-ecologists/geologists in their demanding work of Sphagnum identification, and reveal the beauty of the peatlands even in the smaller forms.