Kingdom: Plantae

Phylum: Magnoliophyta -- flowering plants

Class: Liliopsida -- monocotyledons

Order: Typhales

Family: Typhaceae - cattail

Common Name: cat tail or cattail

Species Code: TYLA

Origin: A circumboreal species native to shallow wet places such as ditches, ponds, marshes and slow moving water throughout North America.

Rare: no

Form: grass-like; emergent or terrestrial perennial from rhizomes; stems erect, 1-3 meters tall, simple, pithy.

Mature height: 40-120 inches

Duration: perennial

Longevity: Individual ramets are short-lived, but the genet is long-lived.

Habitat Type: wetland

Wetland Indicator Status: OBL

Leaves: alternate, sheathing, linear, flat above, 8-30 mm wide, blades grayish-green, glabrous.

Flowers: borne in a crowded cylindrical spike-like inflorescence; perianth lacking, monoecious, with the staminate flowers above the pistillate and usually contiguous, green drying to brown; pollen grains in tetrads.

Flower color: green, brown

Bloom: 2-3 week period (Yeo 1964)

Fruit: fusiform, about 1 mm long, albuminous, windborne by slender hairs and the persistent stigma and style.

Characteristics:
Reproduces both sexually by seed and vegetatively by rhizomes.
Fruit is an achene (Yeo 1964).
n=15 (Hitchcock et al 1969, Flora of North America Editorial Committee 1993, Baldwin et al 2004).
Wind pollinated.
Plants are monoecious.
Flowers within an inflorescence are protogynous but self-fertile (Grace & Harrison 1986).
Apomixis is lacking (Grace & Harrison 1986).
Perennating organ is a rhizome.
Seeds are dispersed by wind and water.
Seeds are stored for long periods in the seed bank (Mitich 2000, Gucker 2008).
The rhizomes and young shoots are high in starch and can be eaten raw or roasted. Young flower stalks can be cooked and eaten. The pollen can also be collected and used in cooking. The leaves were used by native peoples in mat making and thatching. The seed fluff was used for insulation, stuffing pillows and mattresses, and as tinder for starting a fire.
The rhizomes and other parts of the plant may be consumed by humans (Harrington 1972, Grace & Harrison 1986), but there are some reports of poisoning of both livestock and humans (Grace & Harrison 1986, Mitich 2000).
Rocky Mountain elk make minor use of the Typha species in the fall (Kufeld 1973).
Semi-aquatic animals use the plants for cover and food. Waterfowl and other birds use the plants for nesting, cover and food. T. latifolia is especially important habitat for Marsh wrens, Red-winged blackbirds and Yellow-headed blackbirds. Fish also spawn in cattails.
A number of insects utilize the plants. Grace & Harrison (1986) contains a discussion of the types and species.
Cattails protect shorelines from erosion.

Comments:
T. angustifolia was once thought native to the eastern US but is now believed to be introduced from Europe. It is invasive in wetlands and has spread across North America. There is a record in the University of Washington Herbarium for T. angustifolia collected in Whitman County at Wawawai.
T. angustifolia invasiveness is aided by allelopathy (Jarchow & Cook 2009).
Typha x glauca, a cross of T. angustifolia and T. latifolia, is usually sterile but is highly invasive, spreading by rhizomes. It will displace either of its parents (Flora of North America Editorial Committee, eds. 1993+).
T. angustifolia is capable of growing in deeper water than T. latifolia (Grace & Wetzel 1982, Grace & Wetzel 1998).

Sun requirement: full

Soil moisture: wet

Precipitation: Obligate wetland species, requires shallow standing or slow moving water.

Fire: Wet habitat usually protects cattail from fire. In dry periods top growth may burn, but the plants resprout from rhizomes (Gucker 2008).

Hazards: T. latifolia can displace other native wetland species and create monocultures. Impedes water flow in irrigation canals and can restrict access to recreation sites.

Sowing time: fall or spring

Transplant time: spring

Stratification: none

Seed yield: high

Seed harvest: difficult

Seed first harvest: second season from seed (Yeo 1964, Mitich 2000).

Seed cleaning: difficult

Planting duration: long

Seed shatter: high

Seed size: small

Herbaria: Specimen data and digital resources from The Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria

Key words: native wetland perennial grass-like

Propagation:
High germination results when the seed coat is ruptured by pressure applied to the rounded end of the achene (Yeo 1964). Optimum germination occurs at 86^oF (Sifton 1959).
Fresh seeds are viable when shed and will germinate if moisture is available and temperature is warm. Light but not oxygen is required for germination (Grace & Harrison 1986).
Seeds held in dry storage at room temperature germinated at 1% after 60 months. Germination never exceeded 16% (Comes et al 1978)

References:
Baldwin, B.G., S. Boyd, B.J. Ertter, D.J. Keil, R.W. Patterson, T.J. Rosatti, and D.H. Wilken (eds). 2004. Jepson Online Interchange for California Floristics. University and Jepson Herbaria, University of California, Berkeley, CA. Accessed 10/24/09 online at http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/interchange.html

Comes, R.D., V.F. Bruns, and A.D. Kelley. 1978. Longevity of Certain Weed and Crops Seeds in Fresh Water. Weed Science 26:336-344.

Craighead, John J., Frank C. Craighead, and Ray J. Davis. 1963. A Field Guide to Rocky Mountain Wildflowers. Houghton Mifflin Co. Boston, MA.

Faust, Ralph and Peggy. 1999. Wildflowers of the Inland Northwest. Museum of North Idaho. Coeur d'Alene, ID.

Flora of North America Editorial Committee, eds. 1993+. Flora of North America North of Mexico. 7+ vols. New York and Oxford. Oxford University Press. Online at http://www.fna.org/FNA/

Grace, James B., and Janet S. Harrison. 1986. The Biology of Canadian Weeds. 73. Typha latifolia L., Typha angustifolia L. and Typha x glauca Godr. Canadian Journal of Plant Science 66:361-379.

Grace, James B., and Robert G. Wetzel. 1982. Variations in Growth and Reproduction Within Populations of Two Rhizomatous Plant Species: Typha latifolia and Typha angustifolia. Oecologia 53:258-263.

Grace, James B., and Robert G. Wetzel. 1998. Long-term Dynamics of Typha Populations. Aquatic Botany 61:137-146.

Gucker, Corey L. 2008. Typha latifolia. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online]. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). Available: http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/ [2009, November 3].

Harrington, H.D. 1972. Western Edible Wild Plants. Univ. of New Mexico Press. Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Hitchcock, C. Leo, Arthur Cronquist, Marion Ownbey, and J.W. Thompson. 1969. Vascular Plants of the Pacific Northwest. University of Washington Press. Seattle, WA. 5 vol.

Jarchow, Meghann E., and Bradley J. Cook. 2009. Allelopathy as a Mechanism for the Invasion of Typha angustifolia. Plant Ecology 204(1):113-124.

Kufeld, Roland. 1973. Foods Eaten by the Rocky Mountain Elk. Journal of Range Management 26:106-113.

Mitich, Larry M. 2000. Intriguing World of Weeds. Common Cattail, Typha latifolia L. Weed Technology 14:446-450.

Parish, Roberta, Ray Coupe, and Dennis Lloyd. 1996. Plants of Southern Interior British Columbia. Lone Pine Publishing. Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Rickett, Harold W. 1973. Wildflowers of the United States: The Central Mountains and Plains. Vol. 6. (3 parts). McGraw Hill, New York.

Rickett, Harold W. Wildflowers of the United States: The Northwest States. Vol. 5. (2 parts). McGraw Hill, New York.

St. John, Harold. 1963. Flora of Southeastern Washington and of Adjacent Idaho. 3rd edition. Outdoor Pictures. Escondido, CA.

Sifton, H. B. 1959. The germination of light-sensitive seeds of Typha latifolia L. Canadian J. Botany 37:719-739.

Yeo, R.R. 1964. Life History of Common Cattail. Weeds 12:284-288.

Links:
Plant Profile from the USDA PLANTS Database
Species account from the Fire Effects Information System
Species description from Flora of North America
Species information from the University of Washington Herbarium