Plant · P-979

Cattail

Typha latifolia

Cattail is a tall wetland perennial that colonizes the shallow margins of ponds, ditches and marshes, forming dense stands of sword-like leaves topped by the familiar brown, sausage-shaped seed head. Nearly the whole plant is useful: the starchy rhizome and young shoots are cooked or eaten raw, the immature flower spike is prepared like corn, and the pollen is gathered as a protein-rich flour additive. The leaves and stems are traditional material for thatch, matting and basketry, and the fluffy seed down has been used to stuff pillows and dress burns. It typically reaches 5 to 10 feet tall with a 4 to 6 foot spread, rhizomatous and colony-forming in soil that stays consistently moist to standing water roughly a foot deep.