Cattails

Supermarket of the swamp...

Cattails contain ten times the starch of an equal weight of potatoes.

Early spring new shoots pick peel, cook, or eat raw.

Harvest young flower heads, boil and eat like corn on the cob; or
pickle.

Collect early summer pollen in a bag, add to other flours
(protein/vitamins).

Winter rootstocks: pick mash rinse, dry, and grind into flour.

Use fresh, pounded root directly as a poultice on infections,
blisters, & stings. Tie in place over night. Replace for the next day.

Sticky substance at the base of the green leaf is antiseptic,
coagulant, & and even a bit numbing.

Boil leaves for external skin wash.

Starchy, mashed root use as a toothpaste.

Use pollen as a hair conditioner.

Drink root flour in a cup of hot water or eat the young flower heads
to bind diarrhea and dysentery.

Use the fuzz from mature female flower heads for scalds, burns, diaper
rash & place in diaper to soak up urine.

Down makes excellent tinder. 

Dry brown head of a dry stalk in animal fat for a torch.

Dry stalks use for hand drill, arrow shafts with added hardwood notch
and fore shaft.

Leaves excellent for thatching, basket weaving, cordage (one of the
most important aspects of outdoor survival).

Pollen is hemostatic & astringent. Place directly on cut to control
bleeding. Take internally for internal bleeding, menstrual pain, chest
pains, & other forms of blood stagnation.

Mix pollen with honey; apply to bruises, sores, or swellings.

Pollen is also mildly diuretic and emenagogue.


Cherokee Primitive Survival
http://members.truepath.com/cherokeesurvival/cattails.htm