Arundo/Phragmites: Identification and Uses of Essential Plants in Mediterranean Civilizations
摘要
Using iconography and ancient texts, we list and discuss Arundo and Phragmites taxa (canes and reeds, respectively), their uses, such as writing, units of measurement, medicines, fuels, food, fodders, rural lifestyles, construction materials, ship building, musical wind instruments, throwing weapons, and sacred symbols. These plants that were essential in the daily life of Mediterranean civilizations for millennia could still play a very useful role (bioremediation, CO2 fixation, biogas), for future generations.