Typha latifolia

Native

Wet to damp. Marshes, ditches, shallows. Full sun.

May to July

Green, drying brown

3′ to 9′

This is a 3″ to 9″ tall, erect, perennial forb that rises on a single stem or cluster of stems from a thick, mostly horizontal, unbranched rhizome. It grows in muddy soil, often with its roots underwater.

The stems are erect, stiff, unbranched, light green, hairless, and round in cross section. They are ⅜″ to ¾″ thick in the middle, ⅛″ to ¼″ thick near the inflorescence.

The leaves are mostly basal, alternate, bluish-green to grayish-green, linear, and flat on the back. They are ⅜″ to 1⅛″ wide, though usually no more than ⅞″ wide, usually slightly longer than the flowering spike. They sheath the stem at the base and taper to a sharp point at the tip. They have parallel veins but do not have a prominent midrib. When fresh they are usually covered with a whitish, waxy bloom (glaucous).

The inflorescence is a dense spike of minute staminate (male) and pistillate (female) flowers at the end of the stem.

The staminate-flowered portion of the spike is above and usually contiguous with, not separated by a length of naked stem from, the pistillate-flowered portion. When in flower it is ⅜″ to ¾″ thick and about as long as the pistillate portion. The male flowers are straw-colored to colorless.

The pistillate-flowered portion of the spike is 2″ to 10″ long and 3 ⁄16″ to 5 ⁄16″ thick when in flower. When in fruit it is brown and 1″ to 1¼″ thick. The female flowers are light green at first, drying brown.

The fruit is a thin-walled achene with hairs attached.

Narrow-leaved cattail (Typha angustifolia) has narrower, green leaves that are up to ½″ wide, convex on the underside, and extend well above the flowering spike. The staminate spike of the flowering stalk is separated from the pistillate spike ½″ to 4¾″. When in fruit, the pistillate spike is no more than ⅞″ thick.

In places where both species occur broad-leaved cattail hybridizes with narrow-leaved cattail producing plants with characteristics that are intermediate between the two parent species.