Basketry as an ecosystem service of wetlands: traditional crafts in central Spain

Study area

Our fieldwork was conducted in the province of Ciudad Real (Castilla-La Mancha, Spain), in the upper Guadiana river area, and, specifically, within two national parks (Tablas de Daimiel and Cabañeros) territories, along with the lands between these two protected areas (Fig. 1). However, given the scarce human population in the interior of the national parks, the peripheral areas of the same municipalities to which the protected areas of the parks belong, are very important since their inhabitants have resorted to wetlands as a source of resources. In addition, the intermediate area (Fig. 1), which extends through the municipalities of Malagón, Fuente del Fresno, Fernán Caballero, Luciana and Porzuna, has been one of the areas where we have been able to record more and better information on basket weaving with resources from wetlands.

The Guadiana river is among the four major rivers of the Iberian Peninsula that flow into the Atlantic Ocean. The upper Guadiana river crosses La Mancha plains of Ciudad Real (Mejías 2013Mejías M. 2013. El agua protagonista a través de los siglos. In Mejías M. (eds.), Las Tablas y Los Ojos del Guadiana: agua, paisaje y gente: 15-63. Instituto Geológico y Minero de España. Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Madrid.). Above the town of Daimiel, the Azuer and Cigüela rivers converge with the water upwelling of “Ojos del Guadiana” forming a wide wetland area called “Tablas”-a unique landscape and environment, declared national park in 1973. There, a highly specialized culture was developed based on the sustainable exploitation of the resources provided by this wetland. People of this culture were known as “people of the river” (Del Moral 2013Del Moral A. 2013. Los pobladores del río. In Mejías M. (ed.), Las Tablas y Los Ojos del Guadiana: agua, paisaje y gente: 285-300. Instituto Geológico y Minero de España. Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Madrid.).

Farther west, the Guadiana river receives waters of its tributaries: the Bullaque and Estena rivers. They collect waters of a large natural area known as “Montes de Toledo”, covered by a relatively well-preserved Mediterranean forest. Within this area is the National Park of Cabañeros. Numerous streams flow their waters into the plains (locally named rañas) occasionally forming temporary wetlands. In this area occur the siliceous mountain slopes called trampales. They are associated with water upwelling, and are elliptical or half-moon shaped, typically covered with peat-bog vegetation (De la Cruz & al. 1995De la Cruz J.V., Tenorio M.C. & García R.G. 1995. Contribución a la caracterización florística de los trampales del Parque Natural de Cabañeros. In Villar L. (ed.), Historia Natural’93: Actas de la XI Reunión Bienal de la Real Sociedad Española de Historia Natural, Jaca, 13-18 de septiembre de 1993: 247-254. Instituto de Estudios Altoaragoneses, Huesca. ). Over the almost flat region of La Mancha, north and south of the Guadiana river, exist numerous intermittently inundated wetlands, temporary wetlands, known under the Spanish names of hoya, lagunajo, lavajo, and even laguna (Cirujano & Medina 2002Cirujano S. & Medina L. 2002. Plantas acuáticas de las lagunas y humedales de Castilla-La Mancha. Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha, Real Jardín Botánico, Madrid.). Temporary wetlands enhance biodiversity and provide aesthetic, biogeochemical and hydrological functions (Calhoun & al. 2017Calhoun A., Mushet D., Bell K., Boix D., Fitzsimons J. & Isselin F. 2017. Temporary wetlands: challenges and solutions to conserving a ‘disappearing’ ecosystem. Biological Conservation 211: 3-31.), and resources suitable for basketry (Cirujano & Medina 2002Cirujano S. & Medina L. 2002. Plantas acuáticas de las lagunas y humedales de Castilla-La Mancha. Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha, Real Jardín Botánico, Madrid.).

From the Copper Age (Chalcolithic), third millennium BC, the inhabitants of La Mancha plain already lived organized in groups controlling, among other strategic resources, water. During the Bronze Age (2,400-2,300 BC) an architectonic and cultural complex known as Cultura de la Motillas (little hills) developed closely associated with wetlands and lagoons (Llorach & al. 2000Llorach R., Rivera D., Obón C., Martín-Morales C. & Fernández Posse M.D. 2000. Estudio de los restos vegetales arqueológicos del yacimiento “el Acequión” Albacete Edad del Bronce. Instituto de Estudios Albacetenses Don Juan Manuel, Albacete.). The Motillas are fortified dwellings on low mounds with a circular design and double or triple walls, sometimes with a central tower. Usually, they are placed in the center of lagoons, endorheic zones, wetlands or bogs (Benítez de Lugo 2010Benítez de Lugo L. 2010. Las motillas y el Bronce de La Mancha. Anthropos, Valdepeñas Ciudad Real.; Benítez de Lugo & Mejías 2013Benítez de Lugo L. & Mejías M. 2013. Los primeros pobladores en el entorno de Daimiel. Las Motillas de La Mancha, In Mejías M. (ed.), Las Tablas y Los Ojos del Guadiana: agua, paisaje y gente: 65-104. Instituto Geológico y Minero de España, Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Madrid.).

Freshwater fishing has provided a way of subsistence for centuries for numerous people in the Guadiana river area. In 1575, the “Relaciones de Felipe II”, a public inventory of villages and resources in the Kingdom of Castile, in the description of Carrión de Calatrava, mentions uses of nets and fishing traps, made with rushes (garlitos de juncos) as a way to catch the rich fisheries of the river with eels and other species (ANTC 2016ANTC (Asociación Naturalista Tablas de Calatrava). 2016. Los cangrejeros del Guadiana Carrión de Calatrava. Ayuntamiento de Carrión de Calatrava, Ciudad Real. ). Madoz (1845)Madoz P. 1845. Diccionario Geográfico-Estadístico-Histórico de España y sus posesiones de Ultramar Vol. 7. Establecimiento tipográfico de P. Madoz y L. Sagasti, Madrid. quoted the richness of Daimiel in fish, especially barbells (Barbus sp. pl.) and common eels [Anguilla anguilla (Linnaeus 1758)].

Exploitation of the Guadiana river resources was spatially organized allotting the rights to families over a more or less long stretch of river. Each family inhabited a specific construction, a fishermen hut (casillas de pescadores), provided with a contiguous small subsistence garden. However, for these families, the main resources came from the immediate wetlands, not only from fisheries but also secondarily, from the use of the plants, especially for basketry. In the 1960s around 200 families lived in the stretch of the river between Villarrubia de los Ojos and old Alarcos bridge (Valverde county), devoted exclusively to fishing crabs to be sold in the Madrid central market (ANTC 2016ANTC (Asociación Naturalista Tablas de Calatrava). 2016. Los cangrejeros del Guadiana Carrión de Calatrava. Ayuntamiento de Carrión de Calatrava, Ciudad Real. ). Unlike other places and communities such as the Pima-Papago of Arizona (Potter & Focht 2010Potter B. & Focht B. 2010. The Norton Allen Basketry Collection. Journal of the Southwest 522: 417-433.) the work of basketry is a predominantly male activity.

These wetlands are rich in helophytes, plants of swampy zones, mainly belonging to Cyperaceae, Juncaceae and Poaceae families (Arauzo & al. 2004Arauzo M. A., Fierro C., González A., Iribarren I., López L., Muñoz J., Palomo G. & Revilla A. 2004. Aproximación a la flora de las Tablas de Villarrubia de los Ojos del Guadiana. Parte del entorno de las Tablas de Daimiel. ARBA, Madrid. ; Cirujano & Medina 2002Cirujano S. & Medina L. 2002. Plantas acuáticas de las lagunas y humedales de Castilla-La Mancha. Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha, Real Jardín Botánico, Madrid.). These species form dense populations, vegetatively propagated by rhizomes and are associated with flooding regimes. However, most of such species produce fertile seeds. The helophytes have been an essential resource for the people of the Guadiana river for the following uses.

Building material.-The fishermen’s homes (casillas) were thatched with a layer of reed or carrizo [Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud.] or other plants as rushes or juncos [Scirpoides holoschoenus (L.) Soják] (Verde & Fajardo 2003bVerde A. & Fajardo J. 2003b. Elementos vegetales en la arquitectura rural de la provincia de Albacete, Montes de Toledo y Serranía de Cuenca. Zahora 38: 321-333.). A layer of overlapping reeds over which the rainwater drained while keeping the house dry, even in the main village of Daimiel, in the 19^th century about 200 houses belonging to poorest people were covered with reed thatches (Madoz 1845Madoz P. 1845. Diccionario Geográfico-Estadístico-Histórico de España y sus posesiones de Ultramar Vol. 7. Establecimiento tipográfico de P. Madoz y L. Sagasti, Madrid. ) (Fig. 2a).

Medicinal resources.-Reported in several works (Consuegra 2009Consuegra V. 2009. La cultura de las plantas en La Mancha. Flora en el entorno de las Tablas de Daimiel. Diputación de Ciudad Real, Ciudad Real.; Molero-Mesa & al. 2001Molero-Mesa J., Soguero A. & Jiménez J. 2001. Estudio etnobotánico del macizo central de Sierra Morena Sierra de San Andrés y extremo suroriental del histórico Campo de Calatrava de la provincia de Ciudad Real. Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad de Granada, Granada.; Rivera & al. 2019Rivera D., Verde A., Fajardo J., Obón C., Consuegra V., García-Botía J., Ríos S., Alcaraz F., Valdés A., del Moral A. & Laguna E. 2019. Ethnopharmacology in the Upper Guadiana River area Castile-La Mancha, Spain. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 241: 15 Sep. 2019, 111968. ; Verde & Fajardo 2003aVerde A. & Fajardo J. 2003a. Las plantas en la cultura popular de Castilla La Mancha. Junta de Comunidades de Castilla La Mancha, Consejería de Educación, Albacete.; Verde 2002Verde A. 2002. Estudio etnofarmacológico de tres áreas de montaña de Castilla-La Mancha. PhD Dissertation, Universidad de Murcia, Murcia.; Verde & al. 2000Verde A., Fajardo J., Rivera D. & Obón C. 2000. Etnobotánica en el entorno del Parque Nacional de Cabañeros. Organismo Autónomo Parques Nacionales, Madrid., 2008Verde A., Rivera D., Fajardo J., Obón C. & Cebrían F. 2008. Guía de las plantas medicinales de Castilla-La Mancha y otros recursos medicinales de uso tradicional. Altabán ediciones, Albacete.).

Food resources.-Basal parts of stems and leaves of rushes were traditionally consumed as food (Rivera & al. 2007Rivera D., Obón C., Inocencio C., Heinrich M., Verde A., Fajardo J. & Palazón J. A. 2007. Gathered food plants in the mountains of Castilla-La Mancha (Spain): ethnobotany and multivariate analyses. Economic Botany 61: 7269-289.).

Other purposes.-For chair seats or basketry, mattress filling or fueling ovens, or fishing tools (Fig. 2b).

The desiccation of La Mancha wetlands, including “Las Tablas”, led in the 1980s to the extinction of this way of life, which in it was a model for sustainable development and adaptation to local resources. Furthermore, because land and water reclamation for agriculture, notably the transformation into irrigation of thousands of hectares within the largest area of vineyards in the world and the decline of water quality, most of the riverine fish species vanished or became rare and endangered. National and regional laws were enacted to protect such areas forbidding the commercial fishing activity and forcing the fishermen to abandon their traditional lifestyle. The fishermen’s activity collapsed progressively between 1960s and 1980s (Escuderos 1996Escuderos J. 1996. El último pescador. In Álvarez-Cobelas M. & Cirujano S. (eds.), Las Tablas de Daimiel. Ecología acuática y sociedad. Organismo Autónomo Parques Nacionales, Madrid.). Some of the fishing arts, tools, among others, used by fishermen and their families, were made with wetland plants using different basketry techniques.

In the cultural context of basketry in these wetlands, cultivated plants such as maize or corn (Zea mays L.) or broom corn or escobas de año [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] and other plants from adjacent ecosystems are used, especially esparto grass (Stipa tenacissima L.), with a long tradition throughout the area. Even, species such as giant reed or caña (Arundo donax L.), seemingly introduced or domesticated in the Mediterranean basin since millennia and integrated in wetlands, can provide ecosystemic services (Verde & al. 2000Verde A., Fajardo J., Rivera D. & Obón C. 2000. Etnobotánica en el entorno del Parque Nacional de Cabañeros. Organismo Autónomo Parques Nacionales, Madrid.; Hardion & al. 2014Hardion, L., Verlaque, R., Saltonstall, K., Leriche, A. & Vila, B. 2014. Origin of the invasive Arundo donax (Poaceae): a trans-Asian expedition in herbaria. Annals of Botany 114: 455-462.; Fajardo & al. 2015Fajardo J., Verde A., Rivera D., Obón C. & Leopold S. 2015.Traditional craft techniques of Esparto Grass (Stipa tenacissima L.) in Spain. Economic Botany 69: 370-376.).

The National Park of Tablas de Daimiel, is characterized by the wetlands associated with the Guadiana river. Tablas de Daimiel has a total area of roughly 3,030 ha, which is dependent on two types of water inputs: the superficial ones, from the Azuer and especially the Cigüela river-very irregular and linked to climatological factors; and the phreatic groundwater, from the Guadiana river. Eventually, a transfer of water from the Tajo-Segura aqueduct feeds Tablas de Daimiel through the recharge of the aquifer 23 (Mejías 2013Mejías M. 2013. El agua protagonista a través de los siglos. In Mejías M. (eds.), Las Tablas y Los Ojos del Guadiana: agua, paisaje y gente: 15-63. Instituto Geológico y Minero de España. Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Madrid.). Tablas de Daimiel extends between: latitude 39°06’39’’-39°11’19’’N and longitude 3°38’53’’-3°46’25’’W. Tablas de Daimiel is a Ramsar site, which was declared a protected area in 1966 through the creation of a National Hunting Reserve and, finally, in 1973 it was declared as national park (Carrasco 2013Carrasco M. 2013. El Parque Nacional de las Tablas de Daimiel. In Mejías M. (ed.), Las Tablas y Los Ojos del Guadiana: agua, paisaje y gente: 245-284. Instituto Geológico y Minero de España. Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Madrid. ; MITECO 2018aMITECO (Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica y el Reto Demográfico). 2018a. Ficha Técnica de Parque Nacional Tablas de Daimiel. Website: https://www.miteco.gob.es/es/red-parques-nacionales/nuestros-parques/cabaneros/ficha-tecnica/default.aspx [accessed: 18 Oct. 2018].). The almost exclusive arboreal vegetation is formed by tamarisks or tarayes, notably Tamarix canariensis Willd.

The Cabañeros National Park extends along the southern foothills of Montes de Toledo in the northwestern part of Ciudad Real over an area of about 40,856 ha, at latitude 39°16’52”-39°34’49”N, and longitude 4°15’00”-4°40’43”W. It was declared as national park in 1995 (MITECO 2018bMITECO (Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica y el Reto Demográfico). 2018b. Ficha Técnica de Parque Nacional de Cabañeros. Website: https://www.miteco.gob.es/es/red-parques-nacionales/nuestros-parques/cabaneros/ficha-tecnica/default.aspx [accessed: 18 Oct. 2018].). Cabañeros is located ca. 7 km north of the Guadiana river and includes the course of some of its tributaries as “El Bullaque”. Its vegetation includes typical Mediterranean forests and shrublands and relatively well preserved open semi-natural oak forests (dehesas). Despite the dominance of terrestrial vegetation, Cabañeros also encloses small wetland areas (trampales) and riverine zones, where the culture of fishermen and craftsmen was also maintained for centuries at a lower scale.

The species and their availability

Thirty vascular plant species were recorded as used for basketry in the upper Guadiana river area, belonging to twelve different botanical families (Table 2, Fig. 3). Among these, most species (twenty-three) occurred in wetlands and irrigated fields totalizing twelve different types of habitats of periodically or continually flooded areas (Tables 2, 3). However, seven species traditionally used by people of the wetland area occurred in six different types of habitats characterized by low soil humidity (Tables 2, 3). In number of species the most relevant habitats are: seasonally flooded meadows on subsaline soils of the Western Mediterranean and Reed swamp vegetation of mesotrophic and eutrophic standing freshwater bodies or gently moving streams of boreo-temperate Eurasia.

Here, in the upper Guadiana river, we found that people use a range of species, which takes advantage of the available resources optimizing their uses according to the purposes, but, also, recurred to imported materials such as esparto grass and wicker when these were locally unavailable and required by the specific technique of manufacture.

Basketry plants were classified by Merrill (1922)Merrill R. 1922. Plants used in basketry by the California Indians. University of California Press, Oakland. for California, according to their availability and geographical distribution, into three categories: distribution much-exceeding use, distribution little exceeding use and imported materials. Merrill (1922)Merrill R. 1922. Plants used in basketry by the California Indians. University of California Press, Oakland. concluded that most basket materials have a wider range than their use and that geographic distribution is not the controlling factor in their selection. If the availability of certain plants cannot be regarded as the reason for their uses, Merrill (1922)Merrill R. 1922. Plants used in basketry by the California Indians. University of California Press, Oakland. hypothesized that the technique of manufacture is the governing factor. Weavers consider the properties of the plants in the weaving technique, in the preparation of the element, and in the subsequent use of the basket, thus they combine species from different provenances to optimize their baskets (Peri & Patterson 1976Peri D. & Patterson S. 1976. The basket is in the roots, that’s where it begins. The Journal of California Anthropology 32: 17-32. ). As did Merrill (1922)Merrill R. 1922. Plants used in basketry by the California Indians. University of California Press, Oakland. for California we can conclude that there is a convergence of factors which determines the list of species in use, not only their local availability.

Many of the species used are helophytes plants of the marshes that grow to form large populations practically monospecific. In particular, tall helophytes such as cattail or anea (Typha spp.), club-rush or bon [Schoenoplectus lacustris (L.) Palla], bulrush or castañuela [Bolboschoenus maritimus (L.) Palla] and reeds are very common in local basketwork. However, not all helophytes are used in basketry. The swamp sawgrass, locally named masiega [Cladium mariscus (L.) Poll. (Cyperaceae), with its sharp blades, is no used in basketry, but, it was, instead, used as a fuel for gypsum ovens and heating lime kilns (Escuderos 1996Escuderos J. 1996. El último pescador. In Álvarez-Cobelas M. & Cirujano S. (eds.), Las Tablas de Daimiel. Ecología acuática y sociedad. Organismo Autónomo Parques Nacionales, Madrid.). It possess very tough leaves whose keel and margins, especially in the distal part, bear short hard spines that give sharply cutting edges (Conway 1942Conway V.M. 1942. Cladium mariscus. Journal of Ecology 301: 211-216.) that make them difficult to handle for basketry. Its roots were reported as basketry materials coiled by Native tribes of California (Merriam 1903Merriam. 1903. Some little-known basket materials. Science 17 (438): 826.) but we did not record this use in the Guadiana area. The use of its aerial parts for thatching is recorded by Simpson & Inglis (2001)Simpson D.A. & Inglis C. 2001. Cyperaceae of economic, ethnobotanical and horticultural importance: a checklist. Kew Bulletin 56: 257-360. but in the Guadiana area reeds are preferred for this purpose.

The thirty vascular plant species recorded belong to twelve different botanical families. Among the best-represented botanical families are Poaceae, with nine species, and Cyperaceae, with seven species, together representing a 53.3% of all the recorded species (Table 2). Stems and leaves are the plant parts more frequently employed for basketry in the upper Guadiana river.

Different sedge and bulrush species belonging to the genera Carex, Bolboschoenus, Schoenoplectus, Schoenus, Scirpoides, and Cyperus were locally used with different relevance within the local culture (Table 2). The greater pond-sedge or espadilla (Carex riparia Curtis), after being cut, dried, whitened and softened, was used to make the seats of the chairs as a substitute of cattail leaves (Escudero 1996Escuderos J. 1996. El último pescador. In Álvarez-Cobelas M. & Cirujano S. (eds.), Las Tablas de Daimiel. Ecología acuática y sociedad. Organismo Autónomo Parques Nacionales, Madrid.). Cyperaceae are largely used in crafts, but also as animal food (Simpson & Inglis 2001Simpson D.A. & Inglis C. 2001. Cyperaceae of economic, ethnobotanical and horticultural importance: a checklist. Kew Bulletin 56: 257-360.).

Several smaller sedge helophytes, locally known as maseguilla (Carex divisa Huds. and other species), were used to fill mattresses on which fishermen and their families slept. Traditionally, a seam was made by braiding sedge stems; nowadays already elaborated ropes like sisal or plastic strings tend to be used. It is worth noticing that in other areas the rootstock is the part of sedges which is used in basketry (Peri & Patterson 1976Peri D. & Patterson S. 1976. The basket is in the roots, that’s where it begins. The Journal of California Anthropology 32: 17-32. ).

Cattail species present in the area are Typha domingensis Pers., in Las Tablas de Daimiel zone, and T. latifolia L., in the areas with continuous flooding and better water quality than the above mentioned species (Cirujano & Medina 2002Cirujano S. & Medina L. 2002. Plantas acuáticas de las lagunas y humedales de Castilla-La Mancha. Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha, Real Jardín Botánico, Madrid.; Cirujano & Morales 1995Cirujano S. & Morales R. 1995. Las espadañas y sus utilidades. Quercus, July 1995: 6-7.). Being widely available, cattail is the most important plant in basketry of the area. This species usually has a clumped distribution under high flow conditions with clumps of shoots located 50-70 cm from each other, while under low or no flow the distribution is random (Asaeda & al. 2005Asaeda T., Fujino T. & Manatunge J. 2005. Morphological adaptations of emergent plants to water flow: a case study with Typha angustifolia, Zizania latifolia and Phragmites australis. Freshwater Biology 50: 1991-2001.). Craftsmen interviewed in Daimiel distinguish between macho (= male shoots) (plants provided with flowering stems topped with the characteristic inflorescence which consists of male and female flowers) and pencas, sterile shoots, without inflorescences, presumably the younger ones. Only the latter are used for basketwork. Here flowering shoots are discarded for use and only shoot exclusively consisting of a bunch of leaves are reserved. However, these flowering stems have a wide range of possibilities for thatching huts, making sandals or to form large screens (Morton 1975Morton J. 1975. Aneas (Typha spp.): Weed problem or potential crop? Economic Botany 291: 7-29.). Cattail clumps are cut at the end of summer when leaves are stronger. Near the place of the harvest, cattail shoots are disposed of on the ground for one to a couple of weeks so that the sun whitens the leaves. Then when well dried and bleached these are collected before the arrival of the autumn storms and stored in a shaded place. Immediately before being worked, cattail should be moistened to reach the appropriate degree of humidity. Sometimes, to keep humid, the material that is going to be worked is covered with a wet blanket. With these wet leaves, the artisan makes a braid, which depending on the work to be destined, consists of 3, 5, 7, 9 strands. In every one, a new leaf is added when the previous one is finished, always leaving the tips on the back face of the braid. Once a sufficient length of the braid has been obtained, it is sewn.

Several species of Poaceae were widely collected in the upper Guadiana river area, notably reed and giant reed. Reed was cut and used for thatching huts. This use was already mentioned for Tablas de Daimiel area (Escuderos 1996Escuderos J. 1996. El último pescador. In Álvarez-Cobelas M. & Cirujano S. (eds.), Las Tablas de Daimiel. Ecología acuática y sociedad. Organismo Autónomo Parques Nacionales, Madrid.). Although not explicitly recorded from our informants the giant reed basketry was practised by nomad Romani or Roma people in central Spain, including La Mancha areas (Kuoni 2003Kuoni B. 2003. Cestería tradicional ibérica. Ed. del Aguazul, Barcelona. ; Rivera & Obón 1991Rivera D. & Obón C. 1991. La guía de Incafo de las plantas útiles y venenosas de la Península Ibérica y Baleares excluidas medicinales. Incafo, Madrid.). The use of giant reed in traditional basketry produced by Roma is recorded in other countries of Europe and west Asia (Dogan & al. 2008Dogan Y., Nedelcheva A., Obratov D. & Padure I. 2008. Plants used in traditional handicrafts in several Balkan countries. Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge 711: 157-161.). Reed and giant reed were used to build sheds as well as for plaster ceilings in Doñana (Andalusia/Spain) (Cobo & Tijera 2008Cobo M.P. & Tijera R.E. 2008. Etnografia de la Doñana Sevillana. Mancomunidad de Desarrollo y Fomento del Aljarafe, Sevilla.). The giant reed-related knowledge (management and uses) is widely declining in the Mediterranean in the 21^st century (Gücel 2010Gücel S. 2010. Arundo donax L. Giant reed use by Turkish Cypriots. Ethnobotany Research & Applications, 8: 245-248.). Notwithstanding this loss of utility, some studies show giant reed as a promising species for bioconstruction given its thermal isolating properties (Barreca 2010Barreca F. 2010. The natural material in bioconstruction between tradition and innovation: the use of giant reed Arundo donax L. in the rural constructions. In Samer M. (ed.), Proceedings CIGR XVIIth World Congress: 1-9. The Canadian Society for Bioengineering, Québec City, Canada.; Barreca 2012Barreca F. 2012. Use of giant reed Arundo donax L. in rural constructions. Agricultural Engineering International: CIGR Journal 143: 46-52.). Presently, giant reed is included within the Spanish catalogue of exotic invasive species and several attempts were made to eradicate this species (MITECO 2013MITECO (Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica y el Reto Demográfico). 2013. Catálogo Español de Especies Exóticas Invasoras: Arundo donax L. Website: https://www.miteco.gob.es/es/biodiversidad/temas/conservacion-de-especies/arundo_donax_2013_tcm30-69809.pdf [accessed: 15 Jun. 2019].).

Willows (Salix atrocinerea Brot., S. fragilis L., and S. neotricha Goerz) were planted in the areas close to running waters. There were wicker plantations in the “Finca Juárez” located about 6 km away from Daimiel. Wicker production reached here quantities that allowed its export to other places in Spain. Repeated fires destroyed that plantation around 1940 (Martín & al. 2004Martín M., Fernández R. & Martín J. 2004. Oficios perdidos en Daimiel, antropología de un pueblo y sus gentes. Asociación Cultural “Bolote”, Daimiel.). When there was no wicker from local willows it was brought from Cuenca, an important production and manufacturing wicker area (Kuoni 2003Kuoni B. 2003. Cestería tradicional ibérica. Ed. del Aguazul, Barcelona. ). There were numerous women in the upper Guadiana area who stood out for the quality of the baskets they manufactured. In many cases, these jobs were the tasks of entire families without distinction of gender (Clemente 2013Clemente A. 2013. Recordando el Pasado “Costumbres, oficios y tradiciones”. 3DE3 Editores, Ciudad Real.; Martín & al. 2004Martín M., Fernández R. & Martín J. 2004. Oficios perdidos en Daimiel, antropología de un pueblo y sus gentes. Asociación Cultural “Bolote”, Daimiel.). In the marshes of Doñana (Andalusia/Spain) similar uses to those of the Tablas de Daimiel were recorded. In Doñana the most often used species are cattail, bulrush, club-rush, sharp rush or junco merino (Juncus acutus L.), reed and giant reed (Cobo & Tijera 2008Cobo M.P. & Tijera R.E. 2008. Etnografia de la Doñana Sevillana. Mancomunidad de Desarrollo y Fomento del Aljarafe, Sevilla.).

Not all plants used in basketry in the area came from wetlands. Fields, grasslands and dehesas (open oak forest formations) present other relevant crude materials (Table 3): rye stems or centeno (Secale cereale L.), esparto grass leaves and others. In the Daimiel area, esparto grass is used but it does not grow in the territory, while other large-leaved Stipa species grow such as giant feather grass or albaceo (Stipa gigantea Link) but the latter furnish unsuitable low-quality leaves. Esparto grass leaves were thus not collected in the area, instead, these were brought from localities situated, at least, one-hundred kilometres away (Fig. 3a) this is consistent with the theory of Merrill (1922)Merrill R. 1922. Plants used in basketry by the California Indians. University of California Press, Oakland. on the factors governing the selection of species and the optimization of technical aspects mentioned by Peri & Patterson (1976)Peri D. & Patterson S. 1976. The basket is in the roots, that’s where it begins. The Journal of California Anthropology 32: 17-32. . In Spain, esparto grass has the highest level of versatility but also of specificity within basketry techniques (Barber & al. 1997Barber A., Cabrera M.R. & Guardiola I. 1997. Sobre la cultura de l’espart al territori valencià. Fundació Bancaixa, Valencia.; Fajardo & al. 2015Fajardo J., Verde A., Rivera D., Obón C. & Leopold S. 2015.Traditional craft techniques of Esparto Grass (Stipa tenacissima L.) in Spain. Economic Botany 69: 370-376.). Stems of rye have also been widely used in Spain in basket weaving (Kuoni 2003Kuoni B. 2003. Cestería tradicional ibérica. Ed. del Aguazul, Barcelona. ; González & Amich 2015González J.A. & Amich F. 2015. Plants traditionally used for industrial and artisanal purposes in the Arribes del Duero Spain. Anales del Jardín Botánico de Madrid, 722: e025.).

The olive tree (Olea europaea L.) has been used to make fishing tramps called garlitos. The suckers (varetas de olivo) are used as rods in basketry (Gutiérrez-Murillo & al. 2018Gutiérrez-Murillo M.M., Devesa A.A. & Morales R. 2018. Olive tree basketry (Olea europaea L.): Description of objects and traditional rod selection in a contemporary collection. Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge 17: 525-533.). Also other Mediterranean plant, grape vine (Vitis vinifera L.) was used for garlitos.

Today, some of the few basket makers that still work in the area use plastic cords to do their jobs, in parallel with the use of traditional materials. The difficulty of collecting traditional species is due not only to the degradation of their habitats but also to the rules governing the management of natural areas under protection. This makes it easier and, often, cheaper to recur to synthetic materials. This shows that people use with preference available resources and move from plants to new materials, using traditional or renewed techniques for the same or new purposes, therefore adapting to new circumstances.

Main habitats and their fragility

The most relevant habitats are those with higher water availability were twenty-three species came from. These species grow (Table 3) in temporarily flooded freshwater habitats, seasonally flooded meadows on subsaline soils (Fig. 4d), mesotrophic and eutrophic standing freshwater bodies (Fig. 4b), gently moving streams, small freshwater streams and shallow water bodies, or oligotrophic to mesotrophic organic sediments (Fig. 4f). Other habitats for these species are more directly linked to the Guadiana river course and its tributaries: riparian forests, tall-herb vegetation in nutrient-rich riparian, tamarisk riparian scrub and megarad beds of subsaline sandy intermittent rivers (Table 3).

The seven species from more or less dry areas came from thermo- to meso- and supra-Mediterranean semi-arid oak and low pine matorral, edaphic steppes on loamy or clayey soils and xeric-subhumid acidophilus pastures on sandy-loamy soils. Others, such as rye, are produced in arable lands (Table 3). Overall these habitats are less prone to degradation although increasing climatic drought and present expansion rates of irrigated fields (pistachio, vineyards, olive and almond) may lead to severe losses.

Finally, watered gardens furnished by-products of the orchard which were used as raw materials in crafts, such as maize leaves. Small subsistence gardens located next to the fishermen homes provided other useful materials for crafts. Some, such as the broom corn or the giant reed, were cultivated almost exclusively for the production of stiff stems used to tread climbing vegetables (beans, tomatoes, etc.).

Local populations were highly dependent on the status of wetlands in terms of water table extension and water quality deterioration. This was seriously degraded as a result of systematic overexploitation of aquifers for extensive agricultural purposes since the 1970s (Berzas & al. 2000Berzas J., García L., Rodríguez R. & Martín P. 2000. Evolution of the water quality of a managed natural wetland: Tablas de Daimiel National Park Spain. Water Research 34: 3161-3170.; Castaño 2008Castaño S. 2008. Las Tablas de Daimiel: Un humedal interior dependiente de las aguas subterráneas. Website: https://www.igme.es/ProPaleoTD/difusion/2013/2008-Burgos_Tablas de Daimiel.pdf [accessed: 4 Jun. 2019].; Castaño & al. 2018Castaño S., Losa A., Martínez P., Mediavilla R. & Santisteban J. 2018. Long-term effects of aquifer overdraft and recovery on groundwater quality in a Ramsar wetland: Las Tablas de Daimiel National Park, Spain. Hydrological Processes 32: 2863-2873. ). The coincidence of persistent climatic drought and overexploitation of phreatic waters led to the frequent desiccation of the sources of Guadiana river in Villarrubia de los Ojos (Fig. 4c) and parts of the Guadiana river itself (Fig. 4e). In terms of availability of resources this degradation was fatal: several species such as greater pond-sedge disappeared from the area and others such as swamp sawgrass became rarer and, overall, the extension of most of them was seriously reduced. The greater pond-sedge became presumably extinct, at least according to our informants who previously have used this species, forcing our research team to collect some living specimens among those grown in the Botanical Garden of Castilla-La Mancha for showing them to our informants in order to determine the meaning of the espadilla vernacular name (Fig. 4a).

Traditional jobs related to wetlands and basketry materials

With very few exceptions (Martín & al. 2004Martín M., Fernández R. & Martín J. 2004. Oficios perdidos en Daimiel, antropología de un pueblo y sus gentes. Asociación Cultural “Bolote”, Daimiel.), basketry in the upper Guadiana river area was not a commercial business, it was merely a complementary activity designed to provide the local with the necessary commodities for their life. In this sense, the fishermen of the Guadiana stand out in the area. However, some specific jobs related to wetland plants and basketry were identified. The carriceros gather and work with reed for basketry and, mainly, thatching traditional buildings (Fig. 1a). The zarceros also work with reeds making awnings for patios and blinds for windows and doors by sewing the stems of the reeds in long strips (Martín & al. 2004Martín M., Fernández R. & Martín J. 2004. Oficios perdidos en Daimiel, antropología de un pueblo y sus gentes. Asociación Cultural “Bolote”, Daimiel.). Another job was eneero, people who cut, from June till November, and sale the cattail (enea) leaves (Escuderos 1996Escuderos J. 1996. El último pescador. In Álvarez-Cobelas M. & Cirujano S. (eds.), Las Tablas de Daimiel. Ecología acuática y sociedad. Organismo Autónomo Parques Nacionales, Madrid.). The silleteros make seats for chairs or repaired damaged seats by braiding cattail leaves. This was also a work developed by some entire families without distinction of age or gender. In this job, women were engaged, primarily, to the search of clients and transport of chairs (Clemente 2013Clemente A. 2013. Recordando el Pasado “Costumbres, oficios y tradiciones”. 3DE3 Editores, Ciudad Real.). As mentioned above, the wickerwork was the task of cesteros or canasteros, a job shared by men and women (Clemente 2013Clemente A. 2013. Recordando el Pasado “Costumbres, oficios y tradiciones”. 3DE3 Editores, Ciudad Real.; Martín & al. 2004Martín M., Fernández R. & Martín J. 2004. Oficios perdidos en Daimiel, antropología de un pueblo y sus gentes. Asociación Cultural “Bolote”, Daimiel.). Espadilleros were the people who worked espadilla or greater pond-sedge (Álvarez-Cobelas & al. 1996Álvarez-Cobelas A., Sánchez M.J., Carrasco M., García- Consuegra B., Escuderos J. & Álvarez-Cobelas M. 1996. Aspectos históricos en Las Tablas de Daimiel. In Álvarez-Cobelas M.M. & Cirujano S. (eds.), Las Tablas de Daimiel. Ecología acuática y sociedad. Organismo Autónomo Parques Nacionales, Madrid.). Now it is impossible to find the espadilla in this area, but it is not due to overexploitation but to the severe degradation of its natural habitats. In California Native Americans digging for sedge roots was almost exclusively a task reserved for women (Peri & Patterson 1976Peri D. & Patterson S. 1976. The basket is in the roots, that’s where it begins. The Journal of California Anthropology 32: 17-32. ) which here is not the case. Finally, there was also a job (maseguero) whose main task was cutting and trading the swamp sawgrass, which is an helophyte but not directly related with basket weaving. It is traditionally recognized that masegueros and other workers collecting helophytes for basketry helped to maintain open areas with low density of vegetation in the lagoons, thus benefiting the navigability and facilitating the passage to the fishermen.

Collection and storage techniques for basketry materials

Each plant species presents an optimal time for its collection, normally, summertime is the most common in the Guadiana and neighbouring wetland areas.

After cattail leaves are cut, they are spread out in the sun for a few days to dry well and whiten. In the drying process, the leaves are turned over so that they reach a uniform colour on both sides.

To handle wicker, suitable willow branches were used either peeled (white) or with their bark. Basket-makers prepared willow branches before peeling them, normally by soaking or cutting in the right period, when the plant starts to budding or in summertime (St Jacques, July, 25^th is a commonly referred day to perform this task). To use willow for baskets, people coppice the trees by cutting all the branches every year, (pollarding, promoting the growth of a dense head of foliage and branches), giving the plant a specific shape called cabeza gato (cat head).

In the case of esparto grass, from which leaves are used, these are collected using a special tool called talí, cogedera or palillos, a kind of wooden or metal rod finished in a truncheon. The leaves are rolled in this rod by the tips so that when stretching, small bunches are removed. However, we recall that esparto grass is gathered far away from the Guadiana river area.

Usually, in the study area, basket-makers must prepare previously the materials before working with them. This material must be kept in the best conditions. People store the dried raw material in a specific room in the house. In these conditions, plants could be stored for years. To prepare for weaving soaking is needed. Only the amount of material that is going to be worked during the day is humidified because if it gets wetter for a longer time, the material can mold and spoil. When a job is done in several sessions, the woven part does not need to be moistened again, only the elements that are not braided.

In the selection of the material for the basketry work, it is intended that all the elements used have a similar diameter and appearance. Materials that are damaged, stained, too thick or too thin are discarded.

Main weaving techniques

Braiding and sewing.-Coiling, sewing and braiding were the major techniques recorded (Fig. 5). Depending on their characteristics (hardness, flexibility, thickness) the different species are used or not in the different techniques. We did not record the use of colorants in the materials studied in the upper Guadiana river area unlike other regions (Merrill 1922Merrill R. 1922. Plants used in basketry by the California Indians. University of California Press, Oakland.; Kuoni, 2003Kuoni B. 2003. Cestería tradicional ibérica. Ed. del Aguazul, Barcelona. ; Potter & Focht 2010Potter B. & Focht B. 2010. The Norton Allen Basketry Collection. Journal of the Southwest 522: 417-433.).

As a raw material for the braid, cattail and esparto grass were the most used species and, to a much lesser extent, maize. A continuous braid is made and subsequently sewn. There are different sorts of braids, depending on the number of strands and the way of weaving. The bigger braids are called pleita woven with the strands up; crineja is smaller and woven with the strands looking down. The widths of these braids are determined by the number of branches or lines with which they are made and by the number of elements that make up each of the branches (Fig. 5a). So that the work is well it is essential that all the branches have a similar thickness, for these new elements are added continuously. The position of the hands, the gesture, is essential so that the braid is uniform and clean.

From the same type of braid, a great variety of pieces can be elaborated. What determines the final work is the sewing of these braids. In general, there are two different types of sewing, round sewing in which a spiral is formed from the beginning of the braid; and the sewing in parallel in which several pleitas are sewn longitudinally. The choice depends on the piece to be made and its design. A special piece made with this technique is the traditional mold for the cheese called cincha or pleita, it is made with a broadband of pleita de esparto, usually of 17 or 19 branches (Fajardo & al. 2015Fajardo J., Verde A., Rivera D., Obón C. & Leopold S. 2015.Traditional craft techniques of Esparto Grass (Stipa tenacissima L.) in Spain. Economic Botany 69: 370-376.).

For sewing, people use a string made with fibres of galingale or juncia (Cyperus longus Boeckeler), black sedge or almorchín (Schoenus nigricans L.) or esparto grass. The string used for sewing have two or three strands and is known as cosedera and often is made with different plant species others than the species used in the main braid. If the piece is well sewn, the seam must always be hidden inside the fabric, so that on both sides of the seam the strands intertwine. The string used for sewing is known as cosedera and often is made with a different plant species. The needle is made of iron or with a bone of a sheep-leg or with rockrose or jara (Cistus ladanifer L.) wood. Many traditional pieces were made with this technique, especially baskets to carry water (on clay pots) on horses or big baskets for grape harvesting (espuertas).

Twining.-The technique is used with wicker (Fig. 5e), giant reed (Fig. 5d) and rushes, crossing two elements. One is fixed and the other one cross over the first (Fig. 5d). The piece is made directly, without sewing. This technique was used to weave fishing traps (garlitos and nasas). This is customary in the traditional Roma basketry (Rivera & Obón 1991Rivera D. & Obón C. 1991. La guía de Incafo de las plantas útiles y venenosas de la Península Ibérica y Baleares excluidas medicinales. Incafo, Madrid.). This technique is based on weaving a moving element (weft) over other fixed (warp) so that the piece is being made as it is knitted. A piece of this type widely known and formerly used in the area is the garlito (Fig. 6d).

Ropes.-Rope weaving is essential in basketry, especially to prepare the strings to sewing pieces. But, this is not the single one purpose. Ropes are used to make a particular type of chair seats (Fig. 5f). Some plants, as galingale, are especially used to make ropes. A specific rope type is used to hang melons (Cucumis melo L.) at home. Melons are a typical crop and very important in the diet of this area. To keep it fresh more time, the traditional way is hanged with a rope. For some species, like black sedge, people had to beat the plant to free the fibres, before making the rope. Most of these ropes are used as string to sew braided pieces.

Gathering wild asparagus (Asparagus acutifolius L.) is very popular in the region. One way to wrap the handful of collected asparagus is by peeling a stem flax-leaved daphne (Daphne gnidium L.), using its bark as a rope. Moreover, a rope of bark of this plant was used also to castrate goatlings or lambs.

Coiled basketry.-The distinctive feature of this type of basketry is its foundation, which is made up of a single element, or standard, that is twisted in a continuous spiral around it (Balfet 2019Balfet H. 2019. Basketry. Website: https://www.britannica.com/art/basketry [accesed: 4 Jun. 2019].) (Fig. 5b). This easy technique was used especially in straw basketry, mainly with rye-straw but also with wheat or esparto grass, sowing every round of the piece over the former one. Using two elements, a small handful of fibre which constitutes the body and a rope which is used for sewing the piece. This technique, although rare in the Guadiana area, is specific for making some basketry pieces.

The fibre bundle that forms the body of work must maintain a continuous thickness (Fig. 5c), for this, it is fundamental to continuously incorporate new elements and that these additives do not stand out or protrude from the body of work. In each round, the mallet is held on the previous lap sewing with a needle forming a point that forms a radial shape on one of the faces of the piece. In the domestic equipment of La Mancha and the upper Guadiana river area, three basic pieces were made with this technique using rye straw as a material, which was sewn with an esparto grass seam. These three pieces were escriño, panadera, and escriñete de la ensancha (see section Containers and utensils for agricultural practices for details).

Other definite techniques.-Some pieces are decorated with ornaments, often made using specific techniques. There are various braids used for handles and other endings such as trims and ornaments. Each of these techniques receives a specific name based on the number of branches with which it is made. Thus, there are soguillos with five and with eight, or with four, called rabogato. The redondo has a variable number of branches and the cordón three, etc. The completions of the pieces indicate the quality level of the works. A common ornament in the area is the calabacillas (small gourds), tassels which are hanged down in the frontiles (a piece in the cow front to hold the yoke) (Fig. 7a) (Fajardo & al. 2015Fajardo J., Verde A., Rivera D., Obón C. & Leopold S. 2015.Traditional craft techniques of Esparto Grass (Stipa tenacissima L.) in Spain. Economic Botany 69: 370-376.; Barber & al. 1997Barber A., Cabrera M.R. & Guardiola I. 1997. Sobre la cultura de l’espart al territori valencià. Fundació Bancaixa, Valencia.).

Upper Guadiana river area basketry artifacts

The diverse basketry commodities covered the fishermen needs, for their work in the Guadiana river, but also for their households and their animals, especially horses or mules (Table 4, Figs. 6, 7). Besides the fishermen, these crafts have disappeared, especially regarding their context of uses and functions. Some pieces like garlitos (Fig. 6d) could be found in the shops for tourists, for example in the Visitors Centre of the National Park of Tablas de Daimiel. Just a few basket-makers maintain this knowledge in the area, some sell their works for tourists, and others simply make them as a hobby. The people of the river, fishermen but also basket makers, made several pieces of basketry with three main different purposes: fishing arts; household equipment; and containers and utensils for agricultural practices.

Garlito (Fig. 6d) is a fishing trap, a specific basketry piece for fishermen. There are specific garlito types for trapping fish or crabs. It´s a structure formed by two parts, a piece called mouth (boquilla), on which another is inserted, the mantle (manto), which acts like a fish container. The mouthpiece is a ring that can be prepared of different plants, mostly olive shoots or wicker. On this hoop, the craftsman adds, in parallel, wickers or rushes that will make up the mouth, a funnel-like structure through which the fish or crabs must pass. The mouth is closed at the top with a cord of esparto grass or other material forming a belt on which the second part of the garlito is mounted, the mantle. This mantle is braided similarly to the mouth. Once all the wickers have been assembled, another rim is wrapped inside that reinforces the structure that is closed with another upper cord.

To fish with these traps, the fisherman must put the bait inside, fixed with a rush. The main baits were snails, salted sardines, local fish, frogs and others. To protect the bait against the crabs (to increase the useful time) people covered it with rushes, leaving inside and hide the bait (ANTC 2016ANTC (Asociación Naturalista Tablas de Calatrava). 2016. Los cangrejeros del Guadiana Carrión de Calatrava. Ayuntamiento de Carrión de Calatrava, Ciudad Real. ). The fishermen leave these traps opposite to the water stream, avoiding the entrance of substances, branches, leaves, etc. They arrange the traps during the afternoon/sunset, checking it the next morning. Garlitos did not last long in the open in dry environment, and it was known that, if maintained often submerged, they lasted longer. It seems that there was a time when the garlitos traditionally made with rushes was replaced by wicker, more durable (from a few months to a couple of years). Julio Escuderos, Daimiel fisherman, was a pioneer in this process.

Trasmallos (fishing nets) were used to capture small fish, since big fish were catched with a specific tool called rejaca, a kind of trident. Formerly, fishermen made their own fishing nets, using a rope of cotton, bought in the market. Nets have double layer forming bags (arbitranes) to keep fish inside. To keep the net inside the water, they added in one side of the net a row of lead weights, made at home using a specific tool named turquesa, a sort of iron crucible. Each fishermen family had their own crucible. On the other side of the net, they added several pieces of cork, to keep it floating. Finally, to dye the net, they used a decoction of bark from holm oak roots [Quercus ilex subsp. ballota (Desf.) Samp.] dying the net in reddish.

Pieces used for transporting materials and agricultural products are known as banastas, cestas, covanillos, escriños, escusas, espuertas, paneras, serijos, and serones (Figs. 7c, d). They have different sizes and are made with different species. Some have handles, others covers and others lack these pieces (Table 4).

Other household equipment

The escriño, a trunk-conical basket with two handles and reinforced with a wooden cross at its base, this piece was used to bring the bread dough to the oven.

The panadera, taller, cylindrical and widened in its upper part, was used to store the bread (about a week).

The escriñete de la ensancha, small and provided with lid, was used to maintain the sourdough (ensancha) until the next time it went to the oven.

Chair seats (Fig. 7a): covering the frame of a chair was a typical basketry work in Spain. The more important plant for this in the Guadiana river area was cattail, but also greater pond-sedge was very appreciated in fine chair making, even this species was cultivated for that purpose in Eastern Spain (Kuoni 2003Kuoni B. 2003. Cestería tradicional ibérica. Ed. del Aguazul, Barcelona. ). Even whole small seats (posete) which also could be used as a recipient were made with cattail (Fig. 6b).

Mattresses: formerly, the mattresses were filled normally with plants. Only the best and more expensive were filled with wool. People used as fill plants without other better uses as some helophytes or maize straw (Tables 2, 3). Social changes in the last forty years have led to the cessation of this use, so its impact on the ecosystem is zero. But if the population had grown and the use had been maintained, its impact could have been serious as in the case of overexploitation of cattail and Cyperus species within Chefa Wetland in Ethiopia due to the industrialization of the mattress filling activities (Tessema & al., 2013Tessema A., Abdurohman N. & Goudar K. 2013. Mattress Making Using Typha latifolia and Cyperus species of Chefa Wetland in Kemissie, Ethiopia: A means for livelihood improvement. Fisheries and Aquaculture Journal 4, 1. Website: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/a18c/34f63f8dd58caba02bdec5cd8c982574aeb3.pdf [accessed: 24 Apr. 2021].).

Harnesses to hold oxen, mules and donkeys and their loads were made sometimes with esparto grass or other fibres, making a wide braid to different parts.

Notwithstanding the abundance of cattail we did not recorded in this area such uses as the manufacture of curtains which instead were common in the Hamun lake area of Iran before its partial desiccation (Parsapajouh & Ghahremaninejad 2004Parsapajouh S. & Ghahremaninejad F., 2004. Ethnobotanical use of Typha domingensis Pers. (Typhaceae) in an Arid Zone: Sistan, Iran. Zonas Áridas 8: 7-17.). Instead, we recorded the use of rushes in the manufacture of curtains (Fig. 7b). In the case of production of mats or rugs (Fig. 6e) using cattail, we found coincidences with the report of Parsapajouh & Ghahremaninejad (2004)Parsapajouh S. & Ghahremaninejad F., 2004. Ethnobotanical use of Typha domingensis Pers. (Typhaceae) in an Arid Zone: Sistan, Iran. Zonas Áridas 8: 7-17. for the Hamun area.

Brooms

Brooms are a very popular craft in the area and they are made using wild or cultivated plants (Table 5, Fig. 8) as in other European areas (Dogan & al. 2008Dogan Y., Nedelcheva A., Obratov D. & Padure I. 2008. Plants used in traditional handicrafts in several Balkan countries. Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge 711: 157-161., Nedelcheva & al. 2007Nedelcheva A. M., Dogan Y. & Guarrera P. M. 2007. Plants traditionally used to make brooms in several European countries. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 31: 20. ). There are two types of brooms, rough brooms used to sweep the field and other outdoor areas, and finer brooms used to sweep the interior of the houses, chimney or dust as a duster. Worn brooms have been used to whitewash or paint the walls of houses (Fajardo & al. 2000Fajardo J., Verde A., Rivera D. & Obón C. 2000. Las plantas en la cultura popular de la provincia de Albacete. IEA, Albacete. ; Fajardo & al. 2007Fajardo J., Verde A., Rivera D. & Obón C. 2007. Etnobotánica en la Serranía de Cuenca. Las plantas y el hombre. Diputación Provincial de Cuenca. Cuenca.; Verde & al. 2000Verde A., Fajardo J., Rivera D. & Obón C. 2000. Etnobotánica en el entorno del Parque Nacional de Cabañeros. Organismo Autónomo Parques Nacionales, Madrid.). We have identified 20 plant species used to make brooms, 15 for rough and three for fine brooms. They belong to 11 botanical families and the family with a greater number of species is Poaceae (six) followed by Asteraceae with three species.

Unlike in the case of local basket weaving, in the manufacture of brooms there are more numerous species used from the dry habitats that surround the wetlands. However, the eight species from wetlands, streams and orchards are common.

Broom corn is specifically grown in the vegetable watered gardens to produce the fibers needed to make brooms, the part used is the panicle. Some brooms are made to clean outdoor spaces like yards or plots, others are used at home, even to clean dust over the furniture. This species has been used in other villages of Cuenca, Albacete and Ciudad Real (Spain) (Verde & al 2000Verde A., Fajardo J., Rivera D. & Obón C. 2000. Etnobotánica en el entorno del Parque Nacional de Cabañeros. Organismo Autónomo Parques Nacionales, Madrid.; Fajardo & al. 2000Fajardo J., Verde A., Rivera D. & Obón C. 2000. Las plantas en la cultura popular de la provincia de Albacete. IEA, Albacete. ; Fajardo & al. 2007Fajardo J., Verde A., Rivera D. & Obón C. 2007. Etnobotánica en la Serranía de Cuenca. Las plantas y el hombre. Diputación Provincial de Cuenca. Cuenca.).

Heather brooms (Erica spp.) are used in various places in Spain in the sweeping of public spaces and also are commercially sold. The genus Erica is often used for brooms in other countries such as Italy or Bulgaria (Nedelcheva & al. 2007Nedelcheva A. M., Dogan Y. & Guarrera P. M. 2007. Plants traditionally used to make brooms in several European countries. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 31: 20. ). Cytisus, Genista or Retama brooms are used throughout Spain in cleaning pens and gardens (Rivera & Obón 1991Rivera D. & Obón C. 1991. La guía de Incafo de las plantas útiles y venenosas de la Península Ibérica y Baleares excluidas medicinales. Incafo, Madrid.), and also Genista is used in Italy (Nedelcheva & al. 2007Nedelcheva A. M., Dogan Y. & Guarrera P. M. 2007. Plants traditionally used to make brooms in several European countries. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 31: 20. ).

The technique to make a broom is fairly easy, just putting together a plant handful and wrapping with a specific knot, which tightens very hard the broom and forming a handle to hold it. The plants must be collected before flowering and the harvesting is usually done by means of a sickle or croaker. The beams of the plant are tied using some element that allows tightening the broom as much as possible, tensing the rope while it goes rolling.