Cotton Grass

Today's the day ......................... to need to know

The common cotton-grass as shown above grows at the side of our pond but it is the same familiar fluffy, white seed heads that dot our boggy moorlands and heaths as if someone has thrown a giant bag of cotton wool balls across the landscape. 

Despite its name, it is actually a member of the sedge family, rather than being a grass - and it's not the same genus as the one that you make cotton cloth from.  But it's still a pretty useful plant. Paper and the wicks of candles have been made of its fibre - and historically, common cotton-grass was used to stuff pillows in Sussex. It was also collected and used in Scotland to dress wounds during the First World War. Finally, the spongy pith of the stem was used for the removal of tapeworm.

But perhaps you didn't need to know that last bit ......................?!