A general name for the species of Eriophorum, referring to its heads of long white silky hairs.
1597. Gerarde, Herbal, I. xxi. § 1. 27. Cotton grasse groweth vpon bogs.
1854. S. Thomson, Wild Fl., III. (ed. 4), 170. The hare-tail cotton grass … blossoms in March.
1884. Jefferies, Red Deer, ii. 28. Acres of cotton-grass, waving like little white flags in the wind.
