Forage for medicine - cattail

Perennial.
Excellent plant for purifying pond water.
Grows 5 - 7 feet (1.5 - 2.1 metres) tall. Leave can reach 1" (2.5 cm) thick.
More suited to larger ponds.
Likes shallow water up to 6" (15 cm) deep.
Plant approximately 2 feet (60 cm) apart.
Likes a sunny position.
Will tolerate slow-flowing water.
Wind pollinated.
Flowers June to August.
Resistant to flooding.
Excellent for encouraging wildlife.
Edible flowers.
Culinary Uses
Roots can be eaten (like potatoes).
Roots are sometimes used to make flour.
Late Spring with the leaves are young they can be eaten
The sheath can be eaten like corn on the cob.
Pollen can be used as a thickener like cornflower.
Seeds can be roasted.
Medicinal Uses
The leaves are diuretic.
The leaves and roots can be used on sores.
The roots can be used to treat cuts, boils, burns and inflammation.
Pollen is an astringent, diuretic, emmenagogue, haemostatic, refrigerant, sedative, suppurative and vulnerary.
Dried pollen can be used as an anticoagulant.
an be used to treat kidney stones, haemorrhage, painful menstruation, abnormal uterine bleeding and cancer of the lymphatic system.
Can be used to treat tapeworms and diarrhoea.
The flowers can be used to treat abdominal pain, amenorrhoea, cystitis, dysuria, metrorrhagia and vaginitis.
The stems have been used to treat whooping cough.
Other Uses
Sometimes used to absorb toxins.