Papyrus (Cyperus papyrus L.) is an aquatic sedge mostly known for its use as paper by the ancient Egypt, Greek and Roman civilizations. It has been assessed as fodder for feeding livestock. The pith is edible and can be eaten raw or cooked. The dry plant can be burned for fire production. Papyrus is now widely used as an ornemental (Vaughan, 2011).
Morphology
Cyperus papyrus is a stout, aquatic perennial rhizomatous sedge that grows to 3-5 m in height. The roots are tough and able to extend 1 m or more. Rootlets are numerous. Papyrus culms are erect and roundly trigonous, smooth, 15-45 (-60) mm in diameter. They are photosynthetic and contain a solid pith, white-light brown. The leaves are alternate, reduced, sheathing, reddish-blackish brown in colour when young. The inflorescence looks like an umbel, hemispherical when young and becoming sub-globose with age. It can be 30-60 cm in diameter. It contains 50-360 green smooth branches, 15-35 cm in length, that bear spikes clustered in umbels at their apex. The spikes are 2-3 cm long x 0.6-1.2 cm wide. They contain 12-40 cylindrical, sessile spikelets spirally arranged along the spike (Popay, 2014; Vaughan, 2011).
Uses
Papyrus is not primarily used as fodder but it can be browsed or cut for livestock feeding. Paper made from dried, pressed and woven strips of culm pith had been used since 3500 BCE to make paper by ancient civilizations in Egypt and the Mediterranean basin. It was the only widespread recording medium until the 8th century in Europe (Vaughan, 2011; Rooney, 2013). The fibrous parts of the culms were used for ropes, nets, sandals etc. Papyrus is cited in the Bible ("bulrush" in the King James Version) as the material used to make Moses' cradle (Exodus 2-3: She took for him an ark of bulrushes) and to make boats (Isaiah 18-2: That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters) (The Holy Bible, KJV21).
Papyrus is still used on a subsistence basis by people living in the vicinity of papyrus wetlands in Africa. It is used to make furniture, mats, baskets and other handcrafts, and for buildings, roofing, brick-making, and boat construction (Rooney, 2013; Jones et al., 2018). The pith is dried and used for stuffing mattresses and cushions (Gabon), processed with waste paper and water to make sanitary napkins (Great Lakes region), and to manufacture cardboard and wallboard (Uganda and Rwanda). The pith and the rhizomes are edible: the pith can be eaten raw or cooked, or it can be chewed like sugarcane. The ashes provide vegetable salt in Burundi. Papyrus is planted worldwide as an ornamental, and the stems and inflorescences are used in floral arrangements. It has also many uses in ethnomedicine (Vaughan, 2011; Rooney, 2013).
Papyrus has significant potential as a biofuel because of its high productivity and its habit of growing in large stands. The culms and particularly the rhizomes, which are denser, are burned for fuel though they produce high amount of smoke. Papyrus can be dried and compressed into brickettes for construction or for fuel. Dead plants turn into peat that can be extracted and used as biofuel (Rooney, 2013). However, the sustainability of papyrus biofuel should be assessed carefully so that such exploitation does not degrade the papyrus wetlands and compromise the important ecosystem services they provide (Jones et al., 2018). In Uganda, for instance, harvesting more than 15% of the papyrus from a swamp was found to be detrimental to swamp sustainability (Vaughan, 2011).
Papyrus has been cited as a potential feedstock for small-scale green biorefinery processes adapted to African conditions. This kind of process could yield a fibre-rich press cake for combustion and a protein-rich green juice suitable for animal fodder or human consumption (Jones et al., 2018; Bruins et al., 2012).
