Botany
Tiker is an aquatic herb with horizontal rhizomes. Stems are stout, 45 to 120 cm tall, often standing in water. Leaves vary greatly in size, some being hardly discernible, others growing to 10 cm or, when floating, reaching a length of 30 to 60 cm. Umbels are usually once or twice divided, 10 to 15 cm in diameter, and sometimes reduced almost to a small head. Spikelets are clustered and solitary, 10 to 12 mm long. Glumes are ovate. Bristles are as long as the nut or reduced. Nuts are obovoid, smooth and black.

Distribution
- In fresh-water swamps, from sea level to 1,300 meters altitude in Luzon (Cagayan, Zambales, Benguet).
- Also found in most warm countries except Malaya and South America.

Properties
Astringent, diuretic.

Parts used
Rhizome.

Uses
Folkloric
Rhizome used as astringent and diuretic.

Studies
• Antibacterial: Scirpus lacustris was one of five medicinal plants in a study of 10 herbs that showed significant antibacterial activity against Nocardia asteroides and N. brasiliensis.

Availability
Wild-crafted.

Additional Sources and Suggested Readings
(1)
Evaluation of antibacterial properties and review of 10 medicinal herbs on preventing the growth of pathogenic Nocardia species / Eshraghi, S.; Amin, G.; Othari, A. / Journal of Medicinal Plants 2009 Vol. 8 No. 32 pp. 60-78, 189