Cyperus papyrus

Genuine Papyrus ( Cyperus papyrus ) - habitus

The Genuine Papyrus ( Cyperus papyrus ), also called Papyrus, is a species of the genus Zypergräser ( Cyperus ) in the family of Sedge family ( Cyperaceae ). Large became famous for the way because it was already used in ancient times as a raw material for the manufacture of papyrus.

Description

The Genuine Papyrus is a perennial, herbaceous plant, the rhizomes formed. The blade is rounded - triangular and reaches stature heights between 300 and 500 centimeters. He has at the base a diameter of 15 to 45 millimeters and is bald. The leaves are spreitenlos.

The total inflorescence resembles a compound umbel, with the 40 to 100 first-order beams are 10 to 30 inches long and hanging up bogig are the rays of the second order are 8 to 20 inches long. There are four to ten upright bracts first order keeled V-shaped, 3-8 inches long and 4-15 mm wide. The two to five bracts of second order are 1.5 to 16 inches long (on average 4 inches ). The partial inflorescences are cylindrical spikes of 10 to 20 mm in length and 6 to 10 mm width.

The 6 to 30 spikelets per ear are slightly compressed and linear or more or less square. They are 6-10 mm wide and have a diameter between 0.8 mm to 1 mm. The Ährchenachsen ( Rhachillae ) decay to maturity not, they share laterally and are 0.3 to 0.4 millimeters broadly winged. The 6 to 16 flowers per spikelet scales are reddish with a fünfrippigen, green midsection, at the edges white to transparent. Their shape is oval to elliptical, they are 1.8 to 2.2 mm long and 1.2 to 1.5 mm wide. The tip is pointed up jaded.

The individual flowers carry from 0.1 to 1 mm long anthers, these bear a reddish pfriemliches appendage with bristly tip, which is between 0.2 and 0.5 millimeters long. The stylus is 0.2 to 0.4 millimeters long.

The nut fruits are dull brown, sessile, oblong and between 0.8 and 1 millimeter in length and about 0.4 mm wide. You have a grainy surface.

Dissemination

The genuine papyrus thrives along riverbanks and marshes. Originally the species in southern Europe, southwest Asia and Africa is common nowadays especially in the Sudd. In Europe, there are few natural resources in the area of Syracuse, Sicily ( Anapo, Fiumefreddo di Sicilia).

Larger neophyte reserves are found in Florida in the United States.

Use

Great It became famous papyrus, because it has been used for millennia to produce the Beschreibmaterials papyrus. For this purpose, the pith of the stem of this plant was cut into strips and pressed down crosswise to each other. The emerging Klebsaft connects the Mark strip.

In ancient Egypt as early as the 3rd millennium BC, the first papyri were probably produced as a writing. During the Ptolemaic period the production was probably already under royal monopoly.

Papyrus was also used in ancient Egypt as a building material for ceremonial boats. Bas-reliefs of the 4th Dynasty show men, cut the papyrus to build reed boats. In Ethiopia, Lake Tana, canoes are made of papyrus even today.

Swell

• Gordon C. Tucker, Brian G. Marcks, J. Richard Carter: Cyperus papyrus. In: Flora of North America. 23, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2003, ISBN 978-0-19-515207-4, p 173 (online, accessed on 24 November 2008).