Cattail

Cattail (Typha)

Locations
Alongside the path leading from Hampshire to Atkins closer to Atkins, as well as near the soccer fields.

How to Identify
Cattails are easily recognizable with their white fluffy cigar-shaped tops sticking tall out of marshy or wet areas. The leaves are long and thin with parallel veins all coming out of the bottom of the stalk. Be careful not to confuse this plant with an iris, all of which are poisonous, and how leaves that look very similar. The dead giveaways that it is a cattail and not an iris is first of all the stalk. Only the Cattail has the tall stalk with the fluff at the end. Also, the leaves of a cattail wrap all the way around the plant, while the iris's leaves are flat.

Uses
The rhizome can be dug up and eaten raw, however it is extremely fibrous and can cause stomach problems. there are a number of methods for getting to the starch around the fibers. One common method is to peel the outer layer and then crush the roots in a bowl of water. Eventually the starch will settle to the bottom and the remainder can be drained out. This is laborious. Another way is to simple chew out the starch and spit the fiber. Another way is to run the back of knife along the root to squeeze out the starch. It tastes a bit like potato. Best to harvest in fall and spring. Where the stalk meets the rhizome there is a white spongy section. Simply pull at the base of the stalk and it will break away from the surrounding leaves. Peel back the first layer and then it can be eaten raw. Be sure not to eat cattail from roadsides or anywhere that could have toxins run off into the water. Cattails are very absorbent and hold on to high levels of chemicals and potentially harmful pathogens from the water they grow in. The fluffy tops found in fall can be used for fire starting or as in pillows and such.

Helpful External Information
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_LHhwl-0nE