Common name: Cattail
Scientific name: Typhus dominguensis

Description: Tall reed-like perennial with long narrow leaves and soft, dense flower spikes.

Uses: The Pima use the split, dry stalks for coiled basketry. The cattail flower, wupdaj, can be used to make pillows - mo'ochkud is 'pillow.' Both the roots and flowers/pollen are also edible. Pollen also played(s) a role in ceremony for many Native American people.

Author

Kimberley A. Ryan, Northern Arizona University Anthropology Laboratories

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