Edible Wild Plants and Medicinal Herbs of the Philippines By: Ryan Deuz J. Luzande,PGDE,MAED,LPT

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THE CULINARY USES OF LAMPAKANAY OR NARROWLEAF CATTAIL (TYPHA CAPENSIS) AND ITS MEDICINAL BENEFITS
By: Ryan Deuz J. Luzande,PGDE,MAED,LPT
27th of April, 2021 at 8:30am
Well yes, it is one of those plants from the computer game Plants vs Zombies, my younger siblings taught me how to play that game, of course it does not really look like a cat but just its tail resembles it somehow. Surprisingly, despite of it abundance in our fresh waters here in the Philippines, very few people are aware that the whole plant can be cooked and eaten as food. If you ask me, it looks like sausages in skewers, its young shoots is a good alternative for asparagus, flowers can be eaten cooked or raw, the base of its leaves can be consumed as vegetable, as for its rhizomes, it can be boiled like any other rootcrops for your dishes. It is semi-aquatic in nature and serve as a home for wetland animals or as nesting place for birds.
Balangot (Typha capensis) is from family Typaceae just like Sparganium and all other species of cattail. It is an erect swamp plant that can grow up to 2 meters in height. Leaves are long, linear and 10 to 12 millimeters wide. Spikes are exserted, cylindric; the male flowers superposed above the female ones; the female ones when mature are brown, 12 to 20 centimeters long and up to 2 centimeters in diameter. Fruits are very minute, with membranous pericarp. This plant occurs in peaty soils of salt marshes and colonizes deep sloughs and sloping marsh perimeters, it jas sturdy, rhizomatous roots that can extend 27 inches.
It is found as an endemic plant species in North and South America, Europe, Eurasia, and Africa. It is cultivated also as an ornamental plant in ponds and gardens.
The health benefits of cattail include the following:
1. Its crude aqueous extracts from its rhizomes contains bioactive compounds such as quercetin and naringenin which can be used to treat male infertility as it helps to increase the production of testosterone.
2. It possess antibacterial properties that is why it is made into jelly obtained from young leaves and applyed on wounds and skin issues or as wound dressing. Rhizomes used as salve or ointment for wound healing.
3. It can be used traditionally as treatment for kidney stones, internal hemorrhage of almost any kind, painful menstruation, abnormal uterine bleeding, postpartum pains, abscesses and cancer of the lymphatic system.
4. Its pollen is diuretic, emmenogogue and hemostatic. It can be used for patients with water retention in a traditional manner.
5. It is also used as a folk medicine for remedies for the treatment of tumors, as anticoagulant, astringent, sedative and tonics.
Propagation, it can be planted by seeds, using its rhizomes or transplanting it in a moist soil with enough supply of water for it cannot survive dry land.
Precaution, always consult your doctor before using this plant as an alternative medicine since it may cause double effect, although generally it is safe to eat.
References:
Investigations on the effects of Typha capensis on male reproductive functions / Ilfergane, Abdulkarem / Thesis, 2016 / University of the Western Cape
https://pfaf.org/user/plant.aspx...
https://www.cabi.org/isc/datasheet/54294
http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/.../PlantFinderDet...
http://www.floracatalana.net/typha-angustifolia-l-
https://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=TYAN