Typha latifolia L.

  • Authority

    Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

  • Family

    Typhaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Typha latifolia L.

  • Description

    Species Description - Stems 1–3 m; lvs flat, (8–)10–23 mm wide; pistillate and staminate portions of the spike contiguous, or rarely separated by as much as 4 mm, the pistillate portion brown, 10–15 cm, 2–3 cm thick at maturity; compound pedicels long and slender; pistillate bracteoles wanting; stigma broad and thick, spatulate; fr 1 cm, with copious white hairs arising near the base (these linear, not expanded upwards), the achene 1 mm long, above the middle of the whole fr; sterile pistillate fls about as long as the fertile and similarly hairy, expanded into a spatulate tip; staminate bracteoles white, capillary; pollen in tetrads; 2n=30. Clean marshes; nearly cosmop., and throughout our range, the common sp. inland. Hybrids with the next 2 spp. have been called T. ×glauca Godr.

  • Common Names

    common cat-tail