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Common Cattail

Typha latifolia

Summary 5

Typha latifolia (broadleaf cattail, bulrush, common bulrush, common cattail, great reedmace, cooper's reed, cumbungi) is a perennial herbaceous plant in the genus Typha. It is found as a native plant species in North and South America, Europe, Eurasia, and Africa. In Canada, broadleaf cattail occurs in all provinces and also in the Yukon and Northwest Territories, and in the United States, it is native to all states except Hawaii. It is an introduced and invasive species, and considered a noxious weed, in Australia and Hawaii. It is not native but has been reported in Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, and the Philippines.

At the Garden 6

Common cattail is a distinctive component of wetlands and is found around Twin Lakes and the Mitsubishi Wetland.

Description 7

This native perennial plant is about 4-9' tall and unbranched, consisting of 6 or more leaves and a flowering stalk. This stalk is light green to green, glabrous, stiff, and round in cross-section (terete). The leaves are up to 7½' long and 1" across. They are linear, green to bluish grey (often the latter), hairless, and rather flattened. Relative to the flowering stalk, the leaves are erect to slightly spreading; they originate from the base of the plant. Some leaves have a tendency to flop downward toward their tips. Leaf venation is parallel. There is a sheath at the base of each leaf. The flowering stalk terminates in a spike of staminate flowers and a spike of pistillate flowers. The staminate spike is above the pistillate spike; they are adjacent or separated by ½" or less. The staminate spike is up to 1' long and less than ¾" across; it is narrowly cylindrical in shape, light yellow to light brown, and densely packed with staminate flowers and abundant hairs. Each staminate flower bears 4 grains of pollen; its petals and sepals are reduced to bristles. After the pollen is released, the staminate spike quickly withers away. The pistillate spike is is up to 1½' long and less than 1¼" across; it is cylindrical in shape, greenish to blackish brown, and densely packed with pistillate flowers and abundant hairs. Each fertile pistillate flower has a stipe at least 1 mm. long, a single ovary, and a single style with a flattened stigma. Infertile pistillate flowers lack achenes, otherwise they are similar to the fertile pistillate flowers.  The blooming period occurs during early to mid-summer. Afterward, the fertile pistillate flowers are replaced by achenes (one achene each). The pistillate spikes persist into the autumn, releasing their achenes with chunky tufts of hair. The root system produces thick starchy rhizomes and fibrous roots. Vegetative colonies are often produced.

Sources and Credits

  1. (c) Gertrud K., some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://www.flickr.com/photos/11946969@N00/34741448
  2. (c) Lauren Magner, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Lauren Magner
  3. (c) Hannah Currie, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Hannah Currie
  4. (c) Allan Hopkins, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-ND), http://www.flickr.com/photos/44096805@N07/7977162363
  5. (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typha_latifolia
  6. (c) bkmertz, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)
  7. Adapted by bkmertz from a work by (c) John Hilty, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://eol.org/data_objects/29444807

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