This afternoon, I passed on my usual way through. In a village where the houses interspersed by swampland. Suddenly, my eyes were drawn to plants that are actually very unusual I've seen. The plant is commonly grown in swamps and along the lower areas of the country. From the sea, the plants are usually located in behind the rows of mangrove forests. In the marsh in the valleys of the hinterland is also common. It's actually very common plants. But somehow some scientific sources only mention that these plants are commonly found in the northern hemisphere. I guess, this is not entirely true, because in my local area, I mean in Aceh, which is located in the most northern part of the island of Sumatra, this plant can be found anywhere in the lower mainland. The Latin name of this plant is Typha angustifolia.
What interested me to this plant this afternoon at the time part of our region, are sausage-shaped the spike. Actually, there is nothing to do with the sausage, and the sausage was actually not a popular food in our area. However, the shape of the spike are like sausages it attracted the attention to know a little more in depth about this plant.
Acehnese people call this plant "Bak Dah", which means: the wick tree, because it is also used to wick the fire. Reportedly, the same is done by the indigenous peoples of America. Some of the tribes there also used for shoes. Native Americans call this plant in their language meaning "fruit for papoose's bed". Another source said that the Klamath and Modoc peoples of northern California and southern Oregon make baskets and mats to sleep from this plant.
Acehnese people since time immemorial, as myself seen in my grandmother's house, also use these plants to create a variety of items: mats, baskets, seats, bags, hats, laces, and many others, up to popular among them one proverb to mock one who claptrap: "haba peugah lua nanggroe, talo keuing Ngom!" (He talk about overseas, but his belt is cattail).
So, I want to say that Typha angustifolia is very common in Aceh, and is very familiar in the lives of their communities.
And now, I will grafity your eyes to looking The Typha angustifolia from Aceh that I shot this afternoon. Thank you for reading.
References:
- http://zipcodezoo.com/index.php/Typha_angustifolia
- https://plants.usda.gov/plantguide/pdf/cs_tyan.pdf
- http://www.voyageurcountry.com/htmls/floweringplants/plants/cattailnarrowleaved.html
- http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/wetland/plants/nl_cattail.htm
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typha_angustifolia
- https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lembang_(tumbuhan)
The photos I took this afternoon
