100 TRIANDRIA. MONOGYNIA. Eeiophokum. 
<ind. Leaves sheathing the stem. (Mr. Caley tells me he has observed 
the spikes to be polygamous : and Sir Thomas Frankland has sometimes 
found this plant dioicous, in Lord Fauconb erg’s Park, Yorkshire. 
Common Moor-grass. Moss-crops. Cotton-grass. (Welsh: Sidan 
y waun; Phi gweimydd cull-ddail; cyjfredin. E.) E. polystachion. 
Huds. Curt. Lightf. With. ed. i. and ii. Moors, marshes, and bogs, 
not uncommon, (especially in the north. Northshore, near Bootle, 
Formby, &c in the neighbourhood of Liverpool. Dr. Bostock. Angle¬ 
sey. Welsh Bot. Pentland Hills. Grey. Edin. E.) Birmingham Heath, 
(now inclosed. E.) Aqualate Meer, near Newport, covering several 
acres. P. June.* 
E. alpi'num. (Stem triangular, naked above the leaves, which are 
shorter than their sheaths: spikes oblong-ovate: glumes firm, 
strongly keeled. Sm. E.) 
(E. Bot. 311. except the shoot with long leaves, which belongs to Carex 
dioica. E.)— EL Dan. 620 — Scheuch. 7. 4— App. 8. 
Six or eight inches high, slender, triangular, jointless; rough when stroked 
downwards. Sheaths at the base scored, acuminate. Spike very small 
downy. Scheuchz. ( Hairs few, not concealing the glumes. E.) 
Alpine Cotton-grass. Mountain bogs, rare. Found in the summer of 
1791, on the moss of Restenet, (since drained. E.) three miles east of 
Forfar, by Mr. Brown in company with Mr. Don. (Mountains in 
Breadalbane. Mr. Somerville. Hook. Scot. E.) P. June. 
(E. capita'tum. Stem round to the summit, invested with a tubular, 
swelling sheath : spike solitary, roundish: glumes membranous. 
E. Bot. 2387.—FI. Dan. 1502. 
Leaves channelled above, convex beneath, with a solitary Stem about a 
span high, remarkably straight, much thicker as well as shorter than 
that of E. vaginatum , whose upper part is triangular. Glumes brown, 
opaque, the outer one so large as frequently to resemble an involucrum. 
Round-headed Cotton-grass, E. Scheuchzeri. Roth. E. capitatum. 
Schrad. A very alpine plant. Discovered by Mr. G. Don, by the side 
of a rivulet on Ben Lawers. P. Aug. E.) 
(E. gra'cile. Stem cylindrical, with three slight angles: leaves tri¬ 
angular ; channelled towards the base: spikes longer than the 
bractea : hairs twice the length of the spike. Sm. 
E. Bot. 2402. 
* This plant is useful in the Isle of Skye to support cattle in the earlier part of the 
spring, before other grasses are sufficiently grown. Pennant's Tour , 1774, p. 308. Poor 
people stuff their pillows with the down, and make wicks of candles with it, but it 
becomes brittle when quite dry. Attempts have been made in Germany to manufac¬ 
ture paper from this down, which might be procured in large quantities; but its brittle 
nature detracts from its utility. (Mr. Winch observes, that while the more delicate 
iff the Grasses, not exceeding twenty in number, mixed with some few plants which 
are able to contend with them for possession of the soil, cover our meadows and pas¬ 
ture fields, the strong-rooted, harsh leaved Sedges, Cotton-grasses, Mat Grass, and 
small Club Rush, scantily clothe the elevated and boggy moors of the Cheviots, where 
no other herbage is to be seen, and during the summer months afford pasturage to nu¬ 
merous flocks of sheep. E.) 
