Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Crazy Looking Plants Turned Out to be Papyrus

powerplant, papyrus plant

Growing Within View of the Kin Town Powerplant



Down in the wetlands, I noticed these a few days ago.

There were tall reeds with what looks like pine needles sprouting in the sky.

Somehow during last night's research (at a bar) the fuzzy plants came up.

 The gal I was talking to kept saying pa-pi-ru-su. 

And, I got her to write it down for me:
パピルス

Pa-pi-ru-su, sounds like someone trying to say, puppy loose.

No, I didn't have any puppies escape recently !

plants, reeds, papyrus


Today's mission was, get some more photos and identify the subjects.

For starters, I took "パピルス" and put in Google Japan for a search.  


close-up, papyrus, cluster


 That led me to a Japanese website with photos and a Latin name.

What we have here is Cyperus papyrus.



Cyperus papyrus, plants, reeds

The plant has its origins in Africa.

It thrives in wet soils and, Egyptians had many uses for this reed.

Boats, baskets, sails, sandals, bowls and, some foods were made from it.

The most famous use of papyrus was, making paper scrolls.

Dig a little deeper and, you may find blueprints for the pyramids on papyrus !

reeds,plant, papyrus

 In Japan and, many other countries it is an ornamental.

At one time the plant was considered extinct in Egypt but, rediscovered in 1968.

It is protected and on the Red List in Israel.

Internationally, it is not considered a threatened species.

If you read the Bible, there's a story about a baby floating in a basket.

It may have been made from the reeds of this plant.

Holy Moses !


Learn More About Papyrus at ARKive

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