Helpston's wildlife

Saw Sedge

Not only is saw sedge a very graceful plant - i.e. it looks good - it is also quite rare locally. A recent book on the flowers of Huntingdonshire and Peterborough has no records of saw sedge from Peterborough so its presence at Swaddywell is quite significant.

It is also an interesting plant. Known as saw or great fen sedge its leaves are sharply serrated and will give you a nasty cut if you aren't careful. It was, previously, the most popular variety of sedge used to cap a roof of thatched reed. Sedge was used for capping as reed is dry and brittle and will snap if bent. The leaves of the saw sedge are pliable but still very strong.

The poorer cuts of saw sedge were used to thatch hay risk and sometimes stacks of drying peat. Unlike reed, saw sedge is normally harvested in the summer and used to provide alternative employment for men who cut reed in the winter.