''Eriophorum scheuchzeri'' is a species of flowering plant in the
sedge family
The Cyperaceae are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large, with some 5,500 known species described in about 90 genera, the largest being the "true sedges" genus '' Carex'' wi ...
known by the common names Scheuchzer's cottongrass and white cottongrass. It has an
arctic circumpolar and
circumboreal distribution in the Northern Hemisphere. It can be found in
Alaska, across
Canada, in the
Arctic islands,
Greenland,
Iceland, and across
Eurasia.
[Aiken, S.G., et al. 2007]
Flora of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago: Descriptions, Illustrations, Identification, and Information Retrieval.
NRC Research Press, National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa. Disjunct occurrences exist in the
Rocky Mountains, in the high mountains of southern Europe (the
Pyrenees,
Alps, and the
Caucasus)
and on
Mount Daisetsu in
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
and some other Asian mountains.
[Ladyman, J.A.R]
''Eriophorum scheuchzeri'' Hoppe (white cottongrass): A technical conservation assessment.
nline USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Region. March 2, 2006.
Description
This species is a perennial herb producing colonies via its
rhizome
In botany and dendrology, a rhizome (; , ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow hori ...
s. The thin stems may reach tall, but they are often much shorter. The rolled leaf blades are up to long. Leaves at the top of the stem have no blades, just black-tipped sheaths. The
inflorescence is a solitary flower head with wispy, cottony, bright white, red-tinged, or silvery bristles up to long.
[''Eriophorum scheuchzeri''.]
Flora of North America.
Distribution and habitat
This plant can be found at sea level in northern parts of its range and at over in elevation farther south.[ It is a helophyte. It is restricted to wet habitat types,][ and grows in marshes and wet meadows, by ponds and lakes, and on riverbanks, in moist and wet gravel and sand substrates.][ It often lines the edges of standing water bodies commonly associated with ]moss
Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophyta (, ) '' sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and hor ...
es and other sedges, such as ''Carex aquatilis
''Carex aquatilis'' is a species of Carex, sedge known as water sedge and leafy tussock sedge. It has a Circumboreal Region, circumboreal distribution, occurring throughout the northern reaches of the Northern Hemisphere. It grows in many types o ...
''.[
]
Uses
Native and indigenous peoples have long been familiar with the plant and its uses. The Inuit have at least three names for Scheuchzer's cottongrass: ''pualunnguat'', meaning "imitation mittens"; ''kumaksiutinnguat'', meaning "an imitation object to remove lice"; and in North Baffin, ''kanguujat'', meaning "what looks like snow geese". It has been used as lamp wicks, boot insoles, and swabs.[ The cottony flowers have been used as dressings to absorb wound drainage.][''Eriophorum scheuchzeri''.]
Native American Ethnobotany. University of Michigan, Dearborn. The plant is also edible and sweet-tasting.[
This plant is consumed by muskoxen.][ Waterfowl feed on the seeds.][
]
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1780775
scheuchzeri
Plants described in 1800
Taxa named by David Heinrich Hoppe