Category: Garden

The rattle of the cattails swaying in the breeze is calming.  ~Paul Gurrieri

I wasn’t sure which native plant I would highlight for my next installment of Simply The Best until I was watching the cattails turn into a mass of fluff this fall.  There is something magical about cattails that bring me back to my childhood and the creek in which I used to play.   What a perfect native plant to feature for the wonderful meme Dozen for Diana@ Elephant’s Eye, and for Gail@Clay and Limestone’s equally wonderful Wildflower Wednesday.

One of the most beautiful sights in early spring is the greening of the stalks of the cattails or Typha latifolia part of the Cat-Tail Family (Typhaceae).  My cattails found their way into the pond long after the second year it was created.  There are cattails also on the edges of the meadow where there is a run-off ditch.  I expect the cattails in the pond were born on the wind or on the back of a frog or two.  I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised to find cattails growing quickly in the pond as they are one of the first native plants to appear in newly wet muddy areas due to their very efficient seed dispersal.

Cattails usually grow in large colonies that resemble swaths of grass.   They mark the transition between land that is changing from a wet to dry.  Cattails occur in shallow freshwater wetlands, from sea level to 7,000 ft. where it is partly sunny to sunny. They can also grow in damp soil without standing water.  Cattails have the unique challenge of getting enough oxygen so this plant has evolved with its leaves containing large air vessels to transfer oxygen to the submerged roots.  Even the dead stalks are capable of getting oxygen to the roots.  Quite an adept plant.

Cattails are monoecious, which means that they have both male and female flowers appearing on the same plant. In early spring, the male flowers appear at the top of the plant with the female part just below.  The female flowers produce long hairs that catch and hold the pollen. After pollination occurs, the staminate part breaks apart, leaving behind the “cattail” or club-like spike.  Cattails bloom in summer to early fall.

Cattails can reach heights of six to twelve feet.  The sausage-like flowering spikes persist through autumn before becoming a mass of downy white fluff.  The seeds are very small, encased in down and wind-dispersed. Cattails can also survive in the soil for long periods with buried seeds. It germinates best with sunlight and changing temperatures. It also spreads by rhizomes once established.

Because cattails can be very aggressive, they often need some management.  Control is difficult, and it is best to let them grow where they can colonize and not cause a problem.  The most successful method for controlling cattails in the literature is by mowing or burning followed by prolonged flooding.  They are easiest to control in a small pond or container although they will take over the pond.  We pull them up, not getting the root, but still it is the only way to control them in our little pond.  We also cut off the cattail flowers once they begin to produce the fluffy seeds.

Origin

Typha is a genus with eleven species of monocotyledonous flowering plants (containing both the male and female flowers on one plant). They are largely found in the Northern Hemisphere in a variety of wetland habitats especially inland.  In the Great Lakes, Typha is said to be the most abundant wetland plant.   And different species of cattails, are adapted to different water depths.

The most widespread species is Typha latifolia, which is found in my area.  These cattails extend across the entire temperate northern hemisphere.  They have recently been introduced into fresh water in Australia where the water is shallow and dirty. The cattails filter the water catching items found floating or submerged.

Other Typha species include:  T. angustifolia  nearly as widespread, but does not extend as far north; some believe it was introduced and is invasive in North America; T. domingens is a more southerly and extends from the southern U.S. to South America; T. orientalis is found in eastern & northern Australia, temperate & tropical Asia and New Zealand; T. laxmannii, T. minima, and T. shuttleworthii are largely restricted to Asia and parts of southern Europe.

Name

Typha latifolia is also known as Broadleaf cattail, Common cattail, Broad-leaf cattail.  It is named for the Greek, tufh (typhe), meaning”bulrush, cattail”.  Latifolia, comes from the Latin latus,”broad”, and folius, “leaf”; “broad leaf”.

Typha has many common names. They may be known in Britain as bulrush, or reedmace, in America as cattail, catninetail, punks, or corn dog grass, in Australia as cumbungi or bulrush, and in New Zealand as raupo. Typha though should not be confused with other plants known as bulrush, such as some sedges.

Uses