Botanic Garden >> Gardening > >> Houseplants >> Plants for Details >> Grasses and Bamboo

Narrow-leaved Cotton Grass (Eriophorum angustifolium): White Fluffy Heads in Bogs

Overview

Narrow-leaved Cotton Grass is a perennial sedge native to bogs, fens, and wet meadows across the Northern Hemisphere. It forms tussocks of narrow, grass-like leaves. In early summer, it produces distinctive, dense, cottony-white seed heads (achenes with long, silky bristles) that sway in the wind, creating a "snow in summer" effect.

Taxonomy & Nomenclature

Family:	Cyperaceae (sy-peer-AY-see-ee)
Genus:	Eriophorum (er-ee-OH-for-um)
Species:	angustifolium (an-gus-tee-FOH-lee-um)

Cultivation & Uses

Full sun to part shade; constantly wet, acidic, peaty soil. Essential for bog gardens, pond margins, and wetland restoration. The cottony heads were historically used for stuffing pillows and wound dressing. Difficult in normal garden soil; requires constant moisture and low pH.

Grasses and Bamboo: Blue Oat Grass (Helictotrichon sempervirens); Silver Banner Grass (Miscanthus sacchariflorus); Palm Grass (Setaria palmifolia); Indian Grass (Sorghastrum nutans); Centipede Grass (Eremochloa ophiuroides): A Low-Maintenance, Acid-Loving Lawn Grass; Egyptian Grass (Dactyloctenium aegyptium): A Spreading Annual Grass with Crowfoot Seed Heads; Bear Grass (Xerophyllum tenax): Iconic Western Native for Fire-Adapted Landscapes; Grass Tree (Xanthorrhoea nana): Dwarf Australian Grasstree; Feather Grass (Stipa pennata): A European Steppe Grass with Silky, Flowing Awns; Liriope minor: Monkey Grass – Dwarf Lily Turf for Edging

Garden Articles

Fountain Grass 'Hameln' (Pennisetum alopecuroides 'Hameln')

Indian Grass 'Indian Steel' (Sorghastrum nutans): A Metallic-Blue Native Prairie Grass

Dallis Grass (Paspalum dilatatum): A Robust Pasture Grass with Sticky Seed Heads

Ribbon Grass 'Picta' (Phalaris arundinacea): A Variegated, Spreading Grass for Wet Sites

Quaking Grass (Briza media): A Delicate Grass with Trembling Heart-Shaped Seed Heads

Purple Love Grass (Eragrostis spectabilis): Cloud of Purple Haze in Late Summer

Australian Grass Tree (Xanthorrhoea preissii): Majestic Trunked Xanthorrhoea

Plants

Daylily 'Land Of Cotton'

Black Fountain Grass 'Moudry' (Pennisetum alopecuroides 'Moudry')

Bottlebrush Grass Tree (Xanthorrhoea macronema): Slender Australian Grasstree

Himalayan Fairy Grass (Miscanthus nepalensis): A Delicate, Late-Blooming Grass from the Himalayas

Purple Moor Grass (Molinia caerulea): A Native European Grass with Airy Purple Panicles

Prairie Cordgrass (Spartina pectinata): A Tall, Native Wetland Grass for Restoration

Scribner's Rosette Grass (Dichanthelium oligosanthes var. scribnerianum)