Campus ethnobotany walk....Cat tail leaves can be use for rope; roots can be eaten; and the seed fluff was traditionally used for diapers.

Leaves and roots can be harvested without damaging the cat tail stand, but the seed fluff is necessary for the stand to return the following season.  Also cat tails are often found in raparian zones, so tread lightly.

Ornamental Horticulture grows several varieties of bamboo on campus.

After Ornamental Horticulture trims the bamboo grove, archeology students can use the bamboo to make flutes and tools.  Bamboo was and is used extensively in the traditional technologies of indegenous cultures.

Max retrieves cat tail leaves from the creek. They have been soaking all morning in preparation for rope making.

Yeh, the cat tails are now soft enough to be processed into rope.

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