Sweden flowers: sheathed cottonsedge

Eriophorum vaginatum, SE: Tuvull, DE: Scheiden-Wollgras,
NL: Eenarig wollegras, UK: Hare's-tail, Cottongrass


Scientific name:		Eriophorum vaginatum L.
Swedish name:		Tuvull, hadd, tuvdun, tuv-ängsull
German name:		Scheiden-Wollgras
Nederlandse naam:		Eenarig wollegras
English name:		UK sheathed cottonsedge, Hare's-tail, Cottongrass
Plant Family:		Cyperaceae, Halvgräs, Sedge Family

Flowers in Sweden - Vilda blommor i Sverige - Svenska blommor, Sverige vilda växter


Life form:		Chamaephyte; dense tussocks
Stems:		Ground level or underground stems absent; Aerial stems erect; not filiform; flowering stems solitary, triangular in cross section, or circular or oval in cross section; peduncle smooth
Leaves:		1-2 mm wide, trigonous
Flowers:		Silvery-blue multiflowered spikelets, with yellow anthers projecting between the scales; later it gets snow-white clusters of hair (compared to a hare'stail).
Flowering Period:		April-May
Fruits:		an achene; pappus hairs simple
Habitat:		On acidic peat in bogs and mires, rarely wet heathland

Derivation of the botanical name:
Eriophorum from the Greek, erion, "wool", and forew (phoreo), "to bring or carry"; hence, "wool bearing",
vaginatum from the Latin vagina, "a covering, sheath", and atus, "possessive of or likeness of something"; hence, "sheathed".

The standard author abbreviation L. is used to indicate Carl Linnaeus (1707 – 1778), a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, the father of modern taxonomy.