WATER NUT (roller, chilim)
An annual relic plant growing on lakes and oxbow lakes, an endangered species. Stem up to 3 m. Leaves of 2 genera. Underwater – opposite, linear, roots form at their base. On the surface of the water, the leaves are rhombic (reminiscent of birch leaves), on long petioles, collected in a whorl. The flowers are white, rise from the water in the morning and open during the day, and fall under the water in the evening. Blooms in May-June. The fruits are flyers, black when mature, resembling an anchor with hook-shaped spines, thanks to which the seeds, falling to the bottom of the reservoir in autumn, are fixed in the ground and germinate in the next spring. From the fruit, the root and stem develop simultaneously. Such a stem brings a leaf rosette to the surface of the reservoir, in the axils of the floating leaves of which flowers and fruits develop. In the beginning, the plant feeds on additional roots,
Medicinal raw materials are fruits (nuts). Fruits contain up to 50% starch, proteins, fats, sugar, vitamins. In folk medicine, water chestnuts are used as a sexual stimulant (aphrodisiac) and diuretic. They are recommended for dysentery and bites of poisonous animals.
The fruits are edible, eaten raw and boiled in the southern regions of Asia (India, China, Tibet). Up to 4 tons of walnuts can be harvested from 1 hectare of water plane.