tussock cottongrass
Eriophorum vaginatum
The 'cotton' is actually made of long perianth bristles that act like parachutes, allowing seeds to be carried miles away by the wind.
- Scientific name
- Eriophorum vaginatum
- Taxonomy
- Plantae › Tracheophyta › Liliopsida › Poales › Cyperaceae › Eriophorum
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- stable
- Biome
- wetland
- Habitat
- Acidic bogs, peatlands, moorlands, and arctic tundra.
- Diet
- Photosynthetic autotroph (requires sunlight, water, and minerals from acidic soil).
- Range
- Northern North America, Northern Europe, Siberia, British Isles
- Size
- 30 to 60 centimeters in height.
- Lifespan
- Perennial; individual tussocks can live for several decades.
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Peat mining, drainage of wetlands for agriculture, and rising temperatures in arctic regions.
- Safe to approach?
- Harmless. You can safely touch the soft seed heads. However, be mindful of the boggy terrain where it grows; stay on boardwalks to avoid sinking or damaging the fragile peat ecosystem.
Eriophorum vaginatum , the hare's-tail cottongrass , tussock cottongrass , or sheathed cottonsedge , is a species of perennial herbaceous flowering plant in the sedge family Cyperaceae. It is native to bogs and other acidic wetlands throughout the Holarctic Kingdom. It is a 30–60 cm high tussock-forming plant with solitary spikes.
Photo: Norma Malinowski, CC-BY, via iNaturalist
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