|
Cumbungi
Cumbungi - Typha domingensis
|
 |
 |
|
|
Cc
|
Cumbungis are tall, reed-like plants that grow in swamps, billabongs and slow-flowing creeks. At the top of their stems they have brown, club-like swellings that are actually thousands of tiny flowers packed tightly together.
The name Cumbungi is one given to it by the Koories and the plant was very important to them. They roasted the underground stems for food, the leaves were woven into baskets, and fibres from the stems and leaves were used to make string.
Many people would call these plants Bulrushes even though that has never been their correct name. This came about
because a 19th century artist painted a picture called 'Moses
in the Bulrushes' with these rather than real bulrushes (which
are small and grass-like). The painting, complete with its mistake, became very popular
and was reproduced in many religious books. They have been known as Bulrushes ever since.
|
|
