Fluff on a stick.

[conall]

Saw a program on tele the other day and reminded me of this thread! (most of you prob know already but thought I'd stick it on here!)

The roots are apparently one of natures best sources of starch in the uk! (apart from modern introduced food stuffs such as potatoes!) Hunter gatherers thrived on the stuff!!

Have not tried it yet, It looks White, very stringy, and best boiled up first by the looks of it!

Does anyone know if the fluffy tops are avilible all year round? Or are they a seasonal thing?

If your talking about reed mace/cat-tail here, then yes it's an amazing plant. you can use the stem for a hand drill to. Ray Mears did a really good bit on them back in the 90's in the program Tracks.

 

[Hedgehog]

"Typha is a genus of about eleven species of monocotyledonous flowering plants in the monogeneric family, Typhaceae. The genus has a largely Northern Hemisphere distribution, but is essentially cosmopolitan, being found in a variety of wetland habitats. These plants are known in British English as bulrush, bullrush or reedmace,[1] in American English as cattail, punks, or corndog grass, and in New Zealand as raupo. Typha should not be confused with other plants known as bulrush, such as some sedges (mostly in Scirpus and related genera)."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typha

Mostly all names for the same bunch of plants it would seem.