Tule Plants

The cattails and bulrush (tule plants) need a year-long wet environment in fresh or slightly brackish (salty) water to survive, as this freshwater channel provides. The organic ooze (detritus) they are rooted in, is rich in nutrients but contains no oxygen. Cattails have developed hollow tubes in their shoots and stems to allow them to transfer oxygen from their tos down to their roots under water. Cattails have female flowers that look like cigars or a cat's tail. The male part is the short spike growing ourt of the top of the female flower. Bulrush have small flowers that are in clusters on the side of the stem. Can you pick out the cattails from the bulrush? Cattails were used extensively by Native Americans. The leaves were used as thatch for houses, the fluff from the dry seed stalks as an absorbent for "diapers", and the shoots, flowers and roots used as food. Today cattails are probably most valued by Muskrats, who eat the roots, stalks and shoots, and Marsh Wrens and Red-winged Blackbirds who use the leaves to weave their intricate nests and the cattail down to line them.

Tour text from "Self Guided Tour of Shollenberger Park" available on site.