Eriophorum angustifolium
[3][7] Up to seven green and brown aerial peduncles and chaffs, roughly 4–10 millimetres (0.16–0.39 in) in size, protrude from umbels at the top of the stem from which achenes are produced after fertilisation, each with a single pappus; these combine to form a distinctive white perianth around 5 centimetres (2.0 in) long.[3][8] Eriophorum angustifolium is described as "a rather dull plant" in winter and spring,[9] but "simply breathtaking" in summer and autumn,[10] when 1–7 conspicuous inflorescences – composed of hundreds of white pappi comparable to cotton,[11] hair,[4] tassels,[9] and/or bristles[3] – stand out against naturally drab surroundings.[8] Eriophorum angustifolium is native to the Northern Hemisphere, and distributed across Eurasia, North America and the British Isles,[3] where there is open bog, heath, wetland and moorland, with standing water and calcareous peat or acidic soil.[7] It can survive in the Subarctic and Arctic, and is found in Alaska, Finland and Greenland as far north as 83° N.[12][13] The British botanist William Turner Thiselton-Dyer recorded E. angustifolium in the South African Republic in 1898.[3][12] In the mires of Northern Ireland and the South Pennines, it considered a ruderal, pioneer and keystone species, because it can quickly colonise and repair damaged or eroded peat, encourage the re-vegetation of its surroundings, and retain sediment and its landscape to serve as a carbon sink.[7][18] Within the British Isles, E. angustifolium thrives at a range of altitudes from sea-level fens and lowland meadows, to exposed upland moors when provided with a habitat of acid bog or waterlogged heath.[14] Eriophorum angustifolium is a hardy, herbaceous, rhizomatous, perennial plant,[14] meaning that it is resilient to cold and freezing climatic conditions, dies back at the end of its growing season, has creeping rootstalks, and lives for over two years.[3][11] Fertilisation usually takes place in May or June, via anemophily (wind-pollination),[20] and the white bristle-like perianth, composed of achenes with pappi (seeds with hairs) then grows outwards to appear like short tufts of cotton thread.[25] The leaves and roots of E. angustifolium are also edible and, because of their astringent properties,[15] used by the Yupik peoples for medicinal purposes, through a process of decoction, infusion or poultice, to treat ailments of the human gastrointestinal tract,[26] and in the Old World for the treatment of diarrhoea.[7][27] Attempts to make a cotton-like thread from the hairs of the plant's seed-heads have been thwarted by its brittleness,[27][28] but it has been used in the production of paper and candle wicks in Germany,[20][29] and was used as a feather substitute in pillow stuffing in Sweden[29] and Sussex, England.
Conservation statusNatureServeScientific classificationPlantaeTracheophytesAngiospermsMonocotsCommelinidsPoalesCyperaceaeEriophorumBinomial nameHonck.Th.Fr.HulténSynonymsspeciesflowering plantNorth AmericaNorth AsiaEuropeacidic soilswetlandmoorlandcottonherbaceousrhizomatousperennialGossypiumtextile manufacturingindigenous peoples of North AmericaPlantlife InternationalGreater ManchesterBritish County Flowers campaigntranslucenttriangular prismpeduncleschaffsumbelsachenesfertilisationpappusperianthinflorescencestasselsbristlesmorphologyrhizomesE. vaginatumtussocksE. latifoliumlaxly caespitoseE. gracileNorthern HemisphereEurasiaBritish Islescalcareousacidic soilSubarcticArcticAlaskaFinlandGreenland83° NWilliam Turner Thiselton-DyerSouth African RepublicManitobaCanadian PrairiesNewfoundland and LabradorPacific Northweststate of WashingtonMidwestern United StatesMichiganEastern SeaboardNew YorkNew JerseyNew MexicoCaucasusEuropean RussiaSiberiaKamchatka PeninsulaManchuriacontinental EuropeMediterranean BasinScandinaviaNorte RegionPortugalPierian MountainsGreecevice-countiesIrelandNorthern IrelandSouth Penninesruderalpioneerkeystone speciescarbon sinkCambridgeshireThe BroadsThe FensEast of Englandland reclamationWicklow MountainsScottish Highlandswind-dispersalperennial plantgrowing seasonprotogynousSexual reproductionanemophilyTaraxacumthermal insulationfungalLophodermium caricinumNatureServe conservation statusNative American cuisineAlaska NativesInupiat peopleastringentYupik peoplesdecoctioninfusionpoulticehuman gastrointestinal tractOld Worlddiarrhoea