TURKISH CYRIOT METHOD
THIS FASCINATING REPORT HAS A TABLE OF USES
OF ARUNDO DONAX AS USED IN TURKISH CYPRIOT
Materials and Methods
Sixty subjects, 30 males and 30 females, belonging to 5 age groups (10-18, 19-35, 36-50 and 50+) from 25 areas were interviewed about the vernacular names, plant part used and ways of usage in the Turkish Cypriot commu- nity in the northern part of Cyprus. In order to reduce er- rors, the interviews were conducted with the aid of plant samples.
Collection of the information started from the local mar- kets, where the products were sold. Then we interviewed the producers at their villages or towns. During the inter- views, they were asked to provide information about the types of usage of A. donax and to recommend other sub- jects to be interviewed.
Results
Our results showed that A. donax is widely used and with greater diversity of uses in the northwest of Cyprus. A to- tal of 27 types of uses were recorded (Table 1.). All plant
parts are used, with the culm being the most important. The use of A. donax was more popular among the older generation.
The plant was grown especially around citrus groves as a shelter for wind. Another use was to place the green, above-ground parts on top of a shelter and to secure them with ropes to produce shade. Moreover, when the culm was the main material, it was used when it was wet, and easy to shape. It was used as a whole or divided horizon- tally into two or three equal parts according to its diam- eter.
Results
Our results showed that A. donax is widely used and with greater diversity of uses in the northwest of Cyprus. A to- tal of 27 types of uses were recorded (Table 1.). All plant
Page 247
Gücel - Arundo donax L. (Giant reed) Use by Turkish Cypriots 247
THIS GOES WITH MY WRITING ON THE 102 USES OF
ARUNDO DONAX
QUOTE FROM TOM SCOTT ACCUPUNCTURIST IN
INVASIVE PLANT MEDICINE
SEED DREAM
I would like to see a traveling exhibit of the many uses of Arundo Donax
at the San Diego Natural History Museum. This would be an eye opener if how through the way we view our world view, we name plants invasive or noxious. This plant, Arundo Donax is called the Devil weed in So Cal.
The Number #1 moneymaker and use is to put it on the list of plants with
its picture in the post office (next to our public enemies...just kidding...).
San Diego Landfill earns a mere $63.00 a ton for calling this trash that cannot be mulched. We do not want to take the time to hire people to take the time to run it through the proper equipment that is demonstrated on the internet.
There is just a chipper displayed. We did have success for the most part running it through a rented chipper here at the Enchanted Garden Intentional Community Growing Grounds.
FAVORITE QUOTES OF THE DAY
JANUARY 16, 2012
FROM TOM SCOTT
r as some surmise about the ‘plague’ of ‘invasive species’: ‘insidious’, ‘evil’, ‘destructive’, ‘threatening’, ‘pervasive’ ‘pollution’…
Today’s ‘War on Invasives’ is full of ‘scientific’ theories and far-reaching policies based on opinions of ‘good’ plants verses ‘bad’ plants, in which the federal government, various corporations, nature-based organizations, and the puritanical public allocates billions of dollars trying to control the wilds of Nature. Deadly herbicides, destructive removal policies, and a hate mentality divert vast resources that could be better spent on more imperative issues like habitat preservation, studying plant medicines, renewable resources, and repopulating the land with those unique plants that are on the brink of extinction. This war results from individuals and Big Business with vested interests, who have created the belief that the movement of a new, ‘exotic’ plant species entering a ‘native’ ecosystem is harmful to the surrounding inhabitants.
TOM SCOTT ON INVASIVE PLANTS
INVASIVE PLANT MEDICINE
with Timothy Scott
Based on his book INVASIVE PLANT MEDICINE, Tim Scott will demonstrate the ecological benefits and healing abilities of invasive plants. Contrary to conventional thought, these prolific plants are actually serving essential environmental needs by protecting disturbed areas, enhancing biodiversity, purifying ecosystems, and revitalizing the land. While at the same time, these widespread plants are also providing inhabitants powerful healing remedies, which in many cases have documented medicinal uses for thousands of years, and are desperately in need today.
INVASION BIOLOGY BY DAVID THEODOROPOLES IS AN EYE OPENER
David Theodoropoules speaks about Invasion Biology at the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference in Eugene OR, March 5th 2011.
THIS IS FROM THE PLANTS FOR A FUTURE SITE
ON THE PAGE ABOUT ARUNDO DONAX...
I, Leslie, was led to this Januarty 16, 2012, by Keep The Beet...I looked up Arundo Donax on the Plants for a Future Site. I found this powerful comment from Patty P.
IT IS FROM PATTY P
Q: But aren't alien invasive species a real threat? What about Eucalyptus, Star Thistle, Scotch Broom and wild boars? Don't they destroy native ecosystems? A: No! This is herbicide industry propaganda.
These species are symptoms of man's destructive abuse of the land, not the cause, expanding into heavily disturbed, overgrazed, polluted areas, often helping heal the land, and filling niches in the ecosystem opened by man's destruction of natives. Star thistle & Scotch Broom are heavily used by native herbivores and pollinators including wild native bees & butterflies, mice, deer, etc. They protect and rebuild soils damaged by decades of overgrazing. Eucalyptus is the preferred habitat for native monarch butterfly overwintering congregations, and wild boar rooting increases plant diversity and fulfills the soil-stirring function formerly performed by grizzlies before they were hunted to extinction in California. In every case, without exception, "invasive" species are the direct result of human disturbance of the landscape, or a secondary ripple effect from other disturbance. They are a symptom of our abuses of the land, not the cause. Invasive alien hysteria is based on faulty, antiquated ecology - the idea of stable, coevolved ecosystems is now entirely discredited by modern ecosystem studies and paleobiology.
HERBICIDE MANUFACTURERS AND "LIFE PATENT" CORPORATIONS HAVE FUNDED
PROPAGANDA ABOUTR INVASIVE SPECIES
"...herbicide manufactures and "life patent" corporations have funded tremendous propaganda in recent years hyping a spurious "invasive species" threat to natural ecosystems in order to sell more herbicides. The USDA, when faced with large budget cuts in the mid 1990s, and needing new justification for its regulatory bureaucracy (protecting the nation from "foreign invaders"), joined in this propaganda effort. Other bureaucracies have joined and the National Invasive Species Council has been created. Park managers nationwide have found "weed extermination" projects a fertile source of funding (The Natural Areas Association for park and preserve managers had a Monsanto employee on its board of directors for some time), and academic biologists likewise have found that promoting the "invasive species threat" useful in their search for grant funding. Unfortunately, this industry-backed media sensationalism has been effective, and many otherwise fine environmental organizations have been misled into support of this "nature cleansing". Monsanto has also been instrumental in the formation of the Exotic Pest Plant Councils - pseudo-environmental front-groups promoting weed hysteria. A Monsanto employee was instrumental in the founding of The California Exotic Pest Plant Council, and was on its board of directors for years. CalEPPC has received major funding from them and other herbicide manufacturers..." Important video on Invasion Biology:
THIS IS AN AMAZING EPIPHANY TO LESLIE's JOURNEY
TO RESANCTIFY ARUNDO DONAX
David Theodoropoules speaks about Invasion Biology at the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference in Eugene OR, March 5th 2011. David I. Theodoropoulos directs the Las Sombras Biological Preserve in La Honda, CA and is the author of "Invasion Biology: Critique of a Pseudoscience, the first comprehensive refutation of invasion biology." His talk was titled "Invasion Biology -- Science or Pseudoscience?, a brief overview of invasion biology's scientific failings, and current scientific perspectives on invasive species."
There were also "old wife's tales" circulating within the ranks of our City needing to be revised.
I heard one story repeated by the lead member of Alpha Project. They earn a lot of money cutting Arundo and taking it to the landfill. They could earn more money by teaching their employees, former addicts, how to slow down and find the good in this plant.
I would, and many others, would buy these products from Arundo I am sure.
The wife's tale:
If last year you drag a piece of Arundo over the ground, where it touched the ground, you could come back next year, and it will have sprouted.
USE AS MULCH
There was also a great resistance to using this as mulch, although there is scientific report from a test at nearby Camp Pendleton suggested it is good to use it as mulch....you would want to monitor its growth, however over time.
REPORT THAT CONCLUDES LIMITED RESPROUTING
WILL OCCUR FROM ARUNDO DONAX MULCH
These were placed in thin layers on the ground between October-Nobember-
December. There has been no resprouting thus far. One neighbor, a biologist, who used the cut and foliar method with Roundup herbicide is also being monitored. Her crew left a danger zone of stumps with Arundo about
two to three inches above the ground.
Alert Webmaster
