Image of white cottongrass

Description:

Slo.: Scheuchzerjev munec - syn.: Eriophorum altaicum Meinsh. - Habitat: small high mountain march; flat terrain; calcareous ground with some siliceous rocks; full sun, wet ground; elevation 1.970 m (6.450 feet); average precipitations ~ 3.000 mm/year, average temperature 0-2 deg C, alpine phytogeographical region. Substratum: soil. Comment: Eriophorum scheuchzeri is a true Arctic plant. It is present all around the northern hemisphere and particularly common far north, where it sometimes forms large fields. Zillions of its beautifully silver-white fruit heads look like snow covered ground. However, it is present also in boreal regions. Of cause, in southern regions of its occurrence it can survive only in cold high mountain conditions. In Slovenia Eriophorum scheuchzeri is a rare and protected plant, constricted to acid bog habitats in the Alps. Such places with rarely less than 2.000 m elevation are rare in my country. Hence each encounter with this beautiful plant is an inimitable experience. Pravilnik o uvrstitvi ogroenih rastlinskih in ivalskih vrst v rdei seznam, Uradni list RS, t. 82/2002 (Regulation of enlisting of endangered plant and animal species onto Red List, Official Gazette of Republic Slovenia, no. 82/2002) (2002). Enlisted in the Slovene Red List of rare and endangered species, marked by 'V' representing a vulnerable species. Ref.: (1) M.A. Fischer, W. Adler, K. Oswald, Exkursionsflora fr sterreich, Liechtenstein und Sdtirol, LO Landesmuseen, Linz, Austria (2005), p 1088. (2) A. Martini et all., Mala Flora Slovenije (Flora of Slovenia - Key) (in Slovenian), Tehnina Zaloba Slovenije (2007), p 799. (3) D. Aeschimann, K. Lauber, D.M. Moser, J.P. Theurillat, Flora Alpina, Vol. 2., Haupt (2004), p 766. (4) K. Lauber and G. Wagner, Flora Helvetica, 5. Auflage, Haupt (2012), p 1366.