WATER PLANTS, FERNS AND THEIR ALLIES 



W-3. CATTAIL, Typha sp, ; Cattail Fajn. 

 3' -7' tall, with very long, slender leaves and 

 typical sausage shaped catkins, forming feath- 

 ery tips with age. 



The Greek, Dioscorides wrote: "the star- 

 chy substance mixed with axungia (hog or goose 

 grease) is good to heal burnings, it doth mod- 

 erately cleanse and dry, and being applied to 

 bleeding places stancheth blood. " 



Our Indians made much use of the leaves 

 for chairs and mats. In winter leading shoots 

 of root stock are filled with starchy material 

 and are used as a salad or cooked as a vege- 

 table. Root stocks are also dried and ground 

 into meal, being equal in food value to rice or 

 corn. The people of Bombay, India, harvest 

 the pollen and make bread from it. Young 

 flowering shoots, before pollen has developed, 

 are eaten either raw or boiled and considered 

 a great delicacy. 



Root stocks are more valuable than seed as food for wild life. 

 Geese and muskrats eat the starchy underground stems. The 

 plants form nesting shelters for many marsh birds. 



W-4. ARROWHEAD or 

 TULE POTATQ Sagittaria 

 sp. ; Water Plantain Fam, 

 About 3' high, with flowers 

 growing around stem in 

 whorls of 3, and leaves 

 sheathing stem at base. 

 Fibrous roots and milky 

 juice. Grows in meadows 

 up to 6000'. 



When Lewis and Clark 

 were camped in Oregon, 

 they practically lived on 

 the tubers purchased from 

 the Indians. The tubers are 

 Muskrats store them in 

 After boiling, 



PETALS 

 WHITE 



Water 

 Marsh 



Most States 

 W. Can. 



Water 

 Marsh 



Most States 

 W. Can. 



found 

 their 



sever 

 nests, 



al feet away from the plant, 

 where the Indians would gather them. 



