Caveman days - The fire plant -Monkey's Tail

This plant dates back to caveman days and was frequently still used up to about 100 years ago. Now, with the advent of electricity, the usefulness has died out but if you every find yourself stranded in Africa, remember it.
We call it "the Baboons/Monkey's Tail" and even after a veld (bush) fire, new leaves still pop out.

It grows to about 3-4 feet in height. The root is used to treat asthma.
There is not a place in South Africa where I have not seen it growing.
If you seperate the very fine parts of the stem.....
you can see how fibrous it is inside.
What cave dwellers did was take one of these "tails" and soak it in animal fat for 3 or 4 days. The fat would draw into the fibre and when set alight, would burn for about 4 hours depending on the lenght of it.So, when we go back to living in caves, remember to have some of these useful plants around.