Moorland Ramblings

Names

• Bog Cotton
• Common Cotton Grass
• Eriophorum angustifolium

Flowering Period

• Year round

Identify

White, cotton like seed heads sit atop a brown stalk, with dark green, narrow leaves.

About

Bog Cotton is a perennial herbaceous plant that covers the wet, boggy moorland and heaths across the UK. Bog Cotton has developed unique adaptations to surviving in the challenging growing conditions of a bog, with air canals in its roots and stems, which allow oxygen to be transported deep down to the roots of the plan

Uses

• In Sussex, Bog Cotton was used to stuff pillows
• The roots of Bog Cotton used to be stewed into a tea to treat diarrhea and other Gastrointestinal problems
• Given the enviornment in which Bog Cotton grows, it is a natural indicator of areas which are boggy and ahould therefore be avoided when walking

Folklore Stories

Nil