Eriophorum vaginatum - (image 1 of 5)
Taxonomy
Family: Cyperaceae
Habitat
Primarily found in bogs and open confer swamps.
Associates
Distribution
New England south to NY, PA, and NJ and west to IN, MI, WI, and MN. North into most of Canada. Circumboreal.
Morphology
Plants in dense tufts without rhizomes; stems to 70 cm. Leaves clustered at base, to 1 mm wide. Spike solitary; spikelets solitary, all alike; scales spirally impricate; lower scales sterile with a whitish margin; flowers perfect; foliaceous bracts absent. Achene about half as wide as long, minutely apiculate, subtended by numerous long bristles.
Notes
Flowers April to July
Wetland indicator: Obligate.
The cottony seed heads stand out in a bog in the fall. The plants in our region are var. spissum and Swink and Wilhelm call this plant E. spissum.
References
Gleason, Henry A.
and A. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States
and Adjacent Canada. Second Ed.
The New York Botanical Garden. Bronx, NY
Swink, F. and G.
Wilhelm. 1994. Plants of the Chicago Region.
Indiana Academy of Science. The Morton Arboretum. Lisle, Illinois.
USDA, NRCS. 2002. The PLANTS Database, Version 3.5 (http://plants.usda.gov).
National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.
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Michael Hough © 2004 |