As a child living deep in the country, the greater tussock sedge, Carex paniculata, provided me with both an adventure playground and a guarantee of getting muddy. This ancient grass, which grows in shallow bogs in pillars up to 1.5 metres high (4ft 11in) and about a metre (3ft 3in) across, often has colonies of 20 or 30 plants close together. The childhood game was to climb on top of one without getting your feet wet and jump from one to the next without falling off into the swamp. An added hazard was (and is) that the leaves are narrow and rough – sharp enough if they slip through your fingers to cut through the skin. So most adventures ended with getting muddy and bloody at the same time.
The grass is not rare, but only grows in suitable habitats with its roots in water or very boggy ground. It is not the sort of plant found in gardens but in wild, wet, neglected and untidy places. The very odd towers each plant grows into as it gets older are said to have inspired John Wyndham’s Triffids. The dark spaces in-between form perfect hiding places for water voles (Arvicola terrestris) and other vulnerable aquatic species.
