Eriophorum vaginatum L.

Native

Hare's-tail Cottongrass is a  tussock-forming rhizomatous perennial herb of wet heaths and mires, including blanket- and raised bogs. It is characteristic of wet peaty moorlands, often dominant or co-dominant with Calluna vulgaris, where it survives, or even increases, after burning. Its sites are always open and almost always acidic (M. J. Y. Foley & M. S. Porter in Preston et al, 2002)

In recent years, Hare's-tail Cottongrass has only been recorded at three acid bog locations in Norfolk, all in vc 28. It has probably never been more than rare. Trimmer (1866) listed six sites, Nicholson (1914) only added two early 19th century records and no contemporary ones, describing it as very rare, and Petch & Swann (1968) gave it two locations, Roydon Common and Sugar Fen.