Yesterday afternoon I got a new roommate, a papyrus plant, which I baptized Syrinx. Of course I'm talking to her. It is still very small, a place only in a large high battery with earth and white stones.
The Cyperus papyrus is a marsh plant found in the wild in subtropical Africa. It is a grass or reed with long stems that result in a star-shaped top of thin green grass-shaped blades. The most famous application of the plant is of course the papyrus roller, when it grew along the banks of the Nile. The plant is seen in the swamps of Sudan as weeds and the triangular stems can easily grow four to five meters high. There, and for example in Botswana and Uganda, the wetlands each cover an area the size of the province Utrecht.
In ancient Egypt the plant was used as the well-known forerunner of the paper, but also as food and roofing and for all kinds of household crockery and even for making boats. When the Egyptian architect Imhotep made natural stone buildings for the tomb of Pharaoh Djoser (27th century BC!), he made the structure of the papyrus stems in stone. This became the forerunner of the pillar with capital, as we know well from the ancient Greek and Roman ruins. The use of the plant to write down is dated to about 5,000 years ago.
Nowadays, or actually for a long time I had a papyrus plant in a battery box with white stones in 1976 it is a decorative plant that does well in the house. This plant, which I got, is actually related to the Cyperus alternifolius. The two are often confused. This room variant can be 2.5 meters high, so almost to the ceiling. It can become very wide in number of stems or very high, depending on the size of the pot or container in which it is located. You can't really water her too much as a swamp plant, although the roots shouldn't be constantly wet. The leaves can sometimes get brown tops, especially near a central heating. It must then be sprayed with a plant syringe. It can bloom with small brown flowers that can carry seeds. She needs a lot of light. Not only do people love this plant, cats like to do too well. She can also thrive outside in the garden along the pond. Most commonly known as the Cyperus parchment.
In ancient Egypt the papyrus plant (mehyt) stood for joy and joy, it was the wand of the goddesses. The plant was also associated with youth. The new life that rose from the primordial water. It was a royal crop there. As the plant grew lush, she became also the symbol of fertility. She formed the pillars of heaven where the god Hapi stayed. But there were more gods with which she was connected, like Bastet (fertility goddess represented as a cat) and Neith (mother goddess and sometimes seen as creator of the world) and Isis bore her son Horus in a papyrus field, as she had to hide from her brother Seth. That made the plant symbol of birth and rebirth. All in all, Syrinx has a colourful history.
