Aquatic and Wetland Vascular Plants of the Northern Great Plains
65. Typhaceae, the Cattail Family
1. Typha L. -- Cattail2. Typha latifolia L. -- Common cattail
Plants mostly 1-2.5 m tall. Leaves erect-ascending, glaucous-green when fresh, 5-20 mm wide, the auricles of the sheath round to truncate, not surpassing the base of the blade. Staminate and pistillate portions of the spike usually contiguous or separated by an interval of up to 1.5 cm; staminate portion 5-15 cm long, 1.5-2 cm thick at anthesis, staminate bracteoles white, anthers 3-4 mm long, pollen released predominantly in tetrads; pistillate portion of the spike dark brown, 4-15 cm long, 1.5-3 cm thick at maturity, pistillate bracteoles absent, gynophore hairs white, stigmas dark brown with age, especially toward the tip, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, 0.4-0.8 mm long. Flowering Jun, fruiting late Jul--Sep. Same habitats as the preceding, except not found where excessively saline; common, often abundant; (s Can. except the extreme w, c AK, throughout the U.S. and into Mex.; also Eurasia and n Africa).
Inflorescences and greatly enlarged achene of T. latifolia. |
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