Dahlia

Gathered in the wild and cultivated, it was used as a food source by indigenous peoples. The Aztecs used them to treat epilepsy and employed the long hollow stem of the (Dahlia imperalis) for water pipes. The indigenous peoples variously identified the plants as "Chichipatl" (Toltecs) and "Acocotle" or "Cocoxochitl" (Aztecs). Commonly called "water cane", "water pipe", "water pipe flower", and "cane flower". Who needs a new water pipe?

Photograph copyright (c) Trevi Bennett 2012