At first glance, cattail broadleaf seems to ignorant people to be an uninteresting and useless plant. Some people call it cane in everyday life, others call it reed. Both are wrong. Despite the fact that the broadleaf cattail is adjacent to both plants in the swamp, they are not relatives. This family is isolated. It refers to only one genus, in which only twenty species have developed, and the broadleaf cattail in it is the most common.
On any river backwater, along the shores of a lake or on a wet watery swamp, it forms dense thickets with strong elastic leaves very flexible when bent, stretching up to three meters in length. Neither rain nor storm will ever bend or lay it on the water. Only the aged and dried out parts fall on the cattail itself. The photo attached to this article perfectly demonstrates its appearance. Remember it so as not to be confused with other, very similar plants.
Rhizome rhizome - powerful, but tender on the edges, covered with scales. Their thickness is in the human hand. It clings tightly to the ground in water, so it is very difficult to get the plant out. There is as much starch in the root as there is in potatoes. This is used by animals and many peoples. For example, people living in the Caucasus bake it well, getting a dish that resembles beans to taste. In ancient times, Feofrast wrote about its nutritional properties. Only inexperienced city dwellers should not deceive themselves about this. Broad-leaved plants, similar to cattail, grow on water, the rhizomes of which can be poisonous. Only if you are sure that this plant is in front of you, use it for food. Everyone likes its inflorescences. These are cylinders of dark brown color about thirty in length.
Rogosa is an ancient and valuable plant for household needs. There are still houses in the Ukrainian villages covered by it. The roofs under it are warm, waterproof, have been standing for one and a half hundred years. And its traces are found by paleontologists in the deepest geological strata belonging to the very ancient
historical eras. For many generations of people weaved mats and household utensils from its leaves, received fibers from which they produced coarse fabric, second-class paper. In the early days, shepherds and wanderers wore waterproof cloaks of cattail. The peasants stuffed down, obtained from inflorescences, pillows. And the most fashionable felt hats are obtained only due to the fact that this wonderful plant fluff is mixed with wool.
Marine life jackets are sewn on its own basis. It has such remarkable buoyancy that in order to keep the human body afloat, only 1 kg 220 g of fluff from cattail inflorescences is enough. As for the production of cotton wool, in the early ages there was no better material. In physical properties, it is a soft, absorbent sterile material that has long been used by military doctors.
Very valuable cattail from winemakers. Leaf they cauldron tubs and barrels. The vines are tied up with ropes from it, which is why they call it barrel grass. And what ropes in the old days wagged him!
