They are herbaceousperennial plants with slender, grass-like leaves. The seed heads are covered in a fluffy mass of cotton-like fibers which are carried on the wind to aid dispersal. The cotton grass also maintains a height of 12 inches and around 2 inches in water. In cold Arctic regions, these masses of translucent fibres also serve as 'down' – increasing the temperature of the reproductive organs during the Arctic summer by trapping solar radiation.[6]
Paper and the wicks of candles have been made of its fiber, and pillows stuffed with the same material. The leaves were formerly used in treating diarrhea, and the spongy pith of the stem for the removal of tapeworm.[7]
Eriophorum scheuchzeri Hoppe – much of Europe; northern and Central Asia including Siberia, Xinjiang, Himalayas, Alaska, Greenland, Canada, mountains of western United States
Eriophorum tenellum Nutt. – eastern Canada and northeastern United States from Nunavut and Labrador to New Jersey
^Ball, Peter W. & Daniel E. Wujek (2002). "Eriophorum Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 52. 1753; Gen. Pl. ed. 5, 27. 1754". In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.). Cyperaceae. Vol. 23. Oxford University Press. pp. 21–27. ISBN978-0-19-515207-4. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)