Scheuchzer's cottongrass

Description

Eriophorum scheuchzeri is a species of flowering plant in the sedge family 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. 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 and some other Asian mountains. This species is a perennial herb producing colonies via its rhizomes. The thin stems may reach 70 cm (28 in) tall, but they are often much shorter. The rolled leaf blades are up to 12 cm (4.7 in) 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 3 cm (1.2 in) long.