Wool Grass

Description:

Cottongrass bulrush or wool grass is a densely-tufted, clump-forming perennial, 3-6 ft. high, with an erect stem that is leafy up to the flower cluster. Many brown, woolly bristles surround the nutlets giving the cluster of spikelets in the terminal inflorescense a fuzzy appearance. A compound umbel, made up of many spikelets on branching rays, is at the top of a triangular or nearly round stem and is surrounded by spreading green, leaflike bracts; spikelets wooly in fruit. It is in the Sedge Family (Cyperaceae).

Habitat:

This one was growing in a freshwater marsh at the Phinizy Swamp Nature Park near Augusta (Richmond County), GA.

Notes:

Other common names include Cottongrass bulrush, Marsh bulrush, Teddybear paws. This is one of several important species of wetland plants, many of them emergents, that provide food and cover for waterfowl and other wildlife. Nearly 30 species of Scirpus occur in eastern North America. Seeds eaten by waterfowl. Roots eaten by muskrats and geese. Provides cover for nesting birds. Scirpus cyperinus is a larval host and/or nectar source for: Dion Skipper Butterfly.