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Totora (plant)
 
 
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Totora (Schoenoplectus californicus ssp. tatora) is a subspecies
Subspecies

In biology, subspecies is the taxonomic rank immediately subordinate to a species. A subspecies is a taxonomic group which is less distinct than the Common descent or species from which it originates....
 of the giant bulrush sedge
Schoenoplectus californicus

Schoeneoplectus californicus is a species of Cyperaceae known by the common names California bulrush and giant bulrush. It is also sometimes called "tule", but the closely related Tule is the more correct owner of that name....
. It is found in South America - notably on Lake Titicaca
Lake Titicaca

Lake Titicaca is a lake located on the border of Bolivia and Peru. It sits 3,812 m above sea level making it one of the highest commercially navigable lakes in the world....
 - and on Easter island
Easter Island

Easter Island is a Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeastern most point of the Polynesian triangle. The island is a special territory of Chile....
 in the Pacific Ocean. The genus
Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
 Schoenoplectus
Schoenoplectus

Schoenoplectus is a genus of about 80 species of Cyperaceae with a cosmopolitan distribution. Note that the name bulrush is also applied to species in the unrelated genus Typha....
 is closely related to Scirpus
Scirpus

The plant genus Scirpus consists of a large number of aquatic, grass-like species in the family Cyperaceae , many with the common names club-rush or bulrush ....
 and sometimes included therein.

Some people say that totora plants are a main food of the Uros.

The Uros
Uros

Uros are a pre-Incan people that live on 42 self-fashioned floating artificial island in Lake Titicaca Puno, Peru and Bolivia. The Uros use the Totora to make boats of bundled dried reeds, and to make the islands themselves....
, an indigenous people predating the Incas, live on Lake Titicaca upon floating islands fashioned from this plant.






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Totora (Schoenoplectus californicus ssp. tatora) is a subspecies
Subspecies

In biology, subspecies is the taxonomic rank immediately subordinate to a species. A subspecies is a taxonomic group which is less distinct than the Common descent or species from which it originates....
 of the giant bulrush sedge
Schoenoplectus californicus

Schoeneoplectus californicus is a species of Cyperaceae known by the common names California bulrush and giant bulrush. It is also sometimes called "tule", but the closely related Tule is the more correct owner of that name....
. It is found in South America - notably on Lake Titicaca
Lake Titicaca

Lake Titicaca is a lake located on the border of Bolivia and Peru. It sits 3,812 m above sea level making it one of the highest commercially navigable lakes in the world....
 - and on Easter island
Easter Island

Easter Island is a Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeastern most point of the Polynesian triangle. The island is a special territory of Chile....
 in the Pacific Ocean. The genus
Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
 Schoenoplectus
Schoenoplectus

Schoenoplectus is a genus of about 80 species of Cyperaceae with a cosmopolitan distribution. Note that the name bulrush is also applied to species in the unrelated genus Typha....
 is closely related to Scirpus
Scirpus

The plant genus Scirpus consists of a large number of aquatic, grass-like species in the family Cyperaceae , many with the common names club-rush or bulrush ....
 and sometimes included therein.

Some people say that totora plants are a main food of the Uros.

The Uros
Uros

Uros are a pre-Incan people that live on 42 self-fashioned floating artificial island in Lake Titicaca Puno, Peru and Bolivia. The Uros use the Totora to make boats of bundled dried reeds, and to make the islands themselves....
, an indigenous people predating the Incas, live on Lake Titicaca upon floating islands fashioned from this plant. The Uros also use the Totora plant to make boats (balsas) of the bundled dried plant reeds.

The Rapanui
Rapanui

The Rapanui or Rapa Nui are the native Polynesian culture inhabitants of Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean . Today, Rapanui people make up 60% of Easter Island's population....
 people of Easter island used Totora reeds - locally known as nga'atu - for thatching and to make pora swimming aids. These are used for recreation, and were formerly employed by hopu (clan champions) to reach offshore Motu Nui
Motu Nui

Motu Nui is the largest of three islets just south of Easter Island and is the List of extreme points of Chile place in Chile. All three islets have Sea birds but Motu Nui was also an essential location for the Tangata manu cult which was the island religion between the Moai era and the Christian times ....
 in the tangata manu
Tangata manu

The 'Tangata manu' , was the winner of a traditional competition on Rapa Nui . The ritual was an annual competition to collect the first Sooty Tern egg of the season from the islet of Motu Nui, swim back to Rapa Nui and climb the sea cliff of Rano Kau to the clifftop village of Orongo....
 ("bird-man") competition. How the plant arrived on the island is not clear; it might have brought there by drifting plants or by birds bearing seeds, but neither do the ocean currents run in a way that makes the former likely, nor are sedge seeds normally dispersed by birds. However, the Tupac Inca Yupanqui
Tupac Inca Yupanqui

T?pac Inca Yupanqui was the tenth Sapa Inca of the Inca Empire, and fifth of the Hanan dynasty. His father was Pachacuti, and his son was Huayna Capac....
 supposedly commanded a Pacific expedition around 1480, which - if it indeed happened - appears to have visited Easter Island. As living Totora plants were used by the Incas for thatching the roofs of their sea-going vessel, an introduction by means of visiting Inca ships would be possible. Lake sediment
Sediment

Sediment is any particulate matter that can be sediment transport by fluid dynamics, and which eventually is deposited.Sediments are most often transported by water transported by wind and glaciers....
 studies, while somewhat ambiguous, suggest that
"... there is no proof of the presence of totora on Easter Island before the 14th century."
and are compatible with an introduction around 1480.

See also

  • Arantaní
  • Rano Raraku
    Rano Raraku

    Rano Raraku is a volcanic crater formed of consolidated volcanic ash, or tuff, and located on the lower slopes of Terevaka in the Rapa Nui National Park on Easter Island....
     & Rano Kau
    Rano Kau

    Rano Kau is a tall extinct volcano that forms the southwestern headland of Easter Island, a Chilean island in the Pacific Ocean; it was formed of basaltic lava flows in the Pleistocene with its youngest rocks dated at between 150,000 and 210,000 years ago....
     (Easter Island
    Easter Island

    Easter Island is a Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeastern most point of the Polynesian triangle. The island is a special territory of Chile....
    )


Footnotes