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Alpine bulrush

Alpine bulrush

Trichophorum alpinum

Identify the Alpine bulrush from a photo and log your finds with Florapass.

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How common: Common

Alpine bulrush is a small peatland plant with slender, stiff, leafless stems and a single tiny flower head at the tip. After flowering, the head carries a neat white tuft of silky hairs, making the plant look like a miniature cottongrass. You can see it on open bogs, fens and marshy shores.

Did you know?

  • After blooming, the tiny head grows a silky white tuft about 1–2 cm long, much like cottongrasses.
  • The stems are leafless; only short yellowish sheaths sit at the base.

About the species

Identification

Low, slender plant 10–30 cm tall, forming loose tufts from a creeping base. Stems are green, stiff and three‑edged, with no true leaves; only yellowish basal sheaths, the upper one with a short 1 cm blade. A single small brownish head sits at the tip, with a few flowers. After flowering, white hair‑like threads lengthen to about 1–2 cm, forming a small tuft. The hard seed is tiny and three‑sided. Differs from cottongrasses by its single neat tuft on a straight, leafless stem. Flowers in Finland in June–July.

Plant group

Grasses, sedges and rushes

Habitat

mire

Flowering

Jun–Jul

About the habitat

Grows on open, rather dry bogs and fens, on marshy shores, and in old peat cuttings and wet ditches. Fairly common across Finland; especially abundant from Oulu–Kainuu northwards and scarcer toward the southwest coast.

Sources

Photo: Hanna Larsson, CC BY 4.0 https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/6352593366

Text: Pinkka: Kasvitieteen retkeily Ahvenanmaalle - Nåtön luontopolku, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.40252

Text: Pinkka (Luomus), CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.40252

Text: Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villap%C3%A4%C3%A4luikka

See also