It can be found in Alaska, across Canada, in the Arctic islands, Greenland, Iceland, and across Eurasia.

The inflorescence is a solitary flower head with wispy, cottony, bright white, red-tinged, or silvery bristles up to 3 cm (1.2 in) long.

[4][5] Eriophorum scheuchzeri was described and named by the German botanist David Heinrich Hoppe in 1800.

[1] This plant can be found at sea level in northern parts of its range and at over 4,000 m (13,000 ft) in elevation farther south.

[2] It often lines the edges of standing water bodies commonly associated with mosses and other sedges, such as Carex aquatilis.