What is the difference between sphagnum moss and moss that grows on rocks and trees? They all seem to re-green when wetted after being dried out. There is also moss that grows around seeps and springs here in the mountains and out in the desert. Some times I see moss growing on the dirt around the brush. It must grow in the spring after the snow melts before things dry out. Is the moss that grows around springs in the high desert here the same as the sphagnum that grows in the sierras just a few miles away?

Northern Nevada - 5000 feet - zone 5 - High desert - Great basin