Opatówek, near Kalisz

It is found as a native plant species in North and South America, Eurasia, and Africa. Edible plant - rhizomes raw or cooked, rich in starch, they can be boiled and eaten like potatoes or macerated and then boiled to yield a sweet syrup; young shoots in spring, raw or cooked; immature flowering spike raw, cooked or made into a soup. Herbal plant - the leaves are diuretic, mixed with oil and used as a poultice on sores; the dried pollen is anticoagulant, but when roasted with charcoal it becomes haemostatic; the seed down has been used as a dressing on burns and scalds. Usable plant - stems can be used to make rush lights, when soaked in oil; root system can stabilize wet banks.