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Western Wetland Flora

Field Office Guide to Plant Species

Scheuchzer's Cotton-grass
Eriophorum scheuchzeri Hoppe

JPG -- Species Photo JPG -- Distribution Map

Family: Sedge (Cyperaceae)
Flowering: July-August
Field Marks: The field marks of this cotton-grass are its short stature, its single spikelet at the tip of the stem, its blackish green scales, and its white bristles that subtend the achene.
Habitat: Bogs, fens.
Habit: Perennial herb with creeping rhizomes, often forming dense colonies.
Stems: Upright, unbranched, up to 8 inches tall, smooth.
Leaves: Very few, mostly near the base of the plant, channeled and triangular, smooth, only about 1/20 inch wide.
Flowers: Crowded together into a single terminal spikelet, up to 1 inch long; scales narrowly lanceolate, usually blackish green, tapering to a slender point.
Sepals: 0.
Petals: 0.
Stamens: Usually 3.
Pistils: Ovary superior; styles 3-parted.
Fruits: Achenes triangular, oblanceoloid, about 1/10 inch long, subtended by white bristles.
Notes: The achenes may be eaten by waterfowl.

Previous Species -- Slender Cotton-grass (Eriophorum gracile)
Return to Species List -- Group 3
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Page Last Modified: Thursday, 03-Aug-2006 11:39:25 EDT
Sioux Falls, SD [sdww55]