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| ## southern cattail {#southern-cattail .Title-Header}                 |
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| *Typha domingensis* Pers.                                             |
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| Plant Symbol = TYDO                                                   |
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###### *Contributed By: USDA NRCS National Plant Data Center & the Idaho Plant Materials Center*

##### Alternate Names

Flags, rushes, bulrushes, cat o'nine tails, Cossack asparagus, reed
mace, baco (cattail)

##### Uses

*Ethnobotanic*: All parts of the cattail are edible when gathered at the
appropriate stage of growth. The young shoots are cut from the rhizomes
(underground stems) in the spring when they are about 4 to 16 inches
long. The base of the stem where it attaches to the rhizome can be
boiled or roasted like potatoes. The young flower stalks can be taken
out of their sheaths and can be boiled or steamed just like corn.
Cattail pollen is a fine substitute for flours; it is a bright yellow or
green color, and turns pancakes, cookies or biscuits a pretty yellow
color (which children love). The rhizomes (underground stems) and lower
stems have a sweet flavor and can be eaten raw, baked, roasted, or
broiled. Cattail rhizomes are fairly high in starch content; this is
usually listed at about 30% to 46%. The core can be ground into flour.
One acre of cattails would yield about 6,475 pounds of flour (Harrington
1972). This flour would probably contain about 80 % carbohydrates and
around 6% to 8% protein. Since cattail occurs around the world, it is a
potential source of food for the worlds\'
population.![](media/image2.png){width="1.4993055555555554in"
height="4.541666666666667in"}

The Cahuilla Indians used the stalks for matting, bedding material, and
ceremonial bundles (Barrows 1967). Some tribes used the leaves and
sheath bases as caulking materials. Apaches used the pollen in female
puberty ceremonies. After dipping the spike in coal oil, the stalk makes
a fine torch. The fluff can also be used as tinder, insulation, or for
lining baby cradle boards. The down is used for baby beds (Murphy 1959).

Lengths of cattail were plied into rope or other size cordage, and
cattail rope was used in some areas to bind bundles of tule into tule
boats. Air pockets or aerenchyma in the stems provide the buoyancy that
makes tule good boat-building material.

*Other Uses*: Wildlife, wetland restoration, wastewater tertiary
treatment, edible (young shoots, base of stem, flower stalks, pollen,
rhizomes), baskets, matting, bedding material, ceremonial bundles,
caulking material, and cordage. The multitudes of tiny, wind-carried
seeds are too small and too hairy to be attractive to birds (Hotchkiss
and Dozier 1949). In a few exceptions, the seeds are eaten by several
duck species. Cattail rootstocks are much more valuable as food for
wildlife than are the seeds. Geese and muskrats prefer the stems and
roots. Shelter and nesting cover are provided for long-billed marsh
wrens, redwing blackbirds, and yellow-headed blackbirds.

##### Status

Please consult the PLANTS Web site and your State Department of Natural
Resources for this plant's current status, such as, state noxious status
and wetland indicator values.

**Description**

*General*: Cattail Family (Typhaceae). Cattails are herbaceous,
rhizomatous perennial plants with long, slender green stalks topped with
brown, fluffy, sausage-shaped flowering heads. Southern cattail plants
are 15-40 dm tall. The spike-like, terminal, cylindric inflorescence has
staminate flowers above and pistillate flowers below. The naked axis
between the staminate and pistillate flowers is approximately 1-8 cm
wide. The spike is bright yellow-to-orange-brown. The basal leaves are
6-18 mm wide when fresh, 5-15 mm wide when dry, and are gland-dotted on
the inside of the leaf near the base. These plants are rhizomatous and
colonial. This species is distributed across the southern half of the
U.S.

##### Distribution

For current distribution, please consult the Plant Profile page for this
species on the PLANTS Web site. Southern cattails are common in the warm
temperate and tropical regions of the world (Hickman 1993). These
cattails occur in coastal and valley marshes at elevations \<1500 m.

##### Establishment

*Adaptation*: Cattails are always found in or near water, in marshes,
ponds, lakes and depressions. They are obligate wetland indicator plant
species. Cattails tolerate perennial flooding, reduced soil conditions
and moderate salinity. With influxes of nutrient or freshwater, cattails
are aggressive invaders in both brackish salt marshes and freshwater
wetlands.

*Typha* species may be planted from bare rootstock or seedlings from
container stalk or directly seeded into the soil. Bare rootstock or
seedlings are preferred revegetation methods where there is moving
water. Typha seeds germinate readily and are a cost-effective means to
propagate cattail on moist soils.

*Seed Collections*: Select seed collection sites where continuous stands
with few intermixed species can easily be found. At each collection
location, please obtain permission for seed collection.

-   Seed is harvested by either taking hand clippers or cutting the stem
    off below the seed heads or stripping the seed heads off the stalk.

-   Collect and store seeds in brown paper bags or burlap bags. Seeds
    are then dried in these bags.

-   Seeds can be harvested when they are slightly immature. It is
    important to harvest the staminate stalks before they dry and blow
    away.

-   Seeds and seed heads need to be cleaned in a seed cleaner.

-   Plant cleaned seed in fall.

-   Plant in clean, weed - free, moist seed bed. Flooded or ponded soils
    will significantly increase seedling mortality.

-   Broadcast seed and roll in or rake 1/4\" to 1/2\" from the soil
    surface.

-   Some seed may be lost due to scour or flooding.

-   Recommended seed density is unknown at this time.

*Seed germination in greenhouse*: Clean seed - blow out light seed.

-   To grow seeds, plant in greenhouse in 1\" x 1\" x 2\" pots, 1/4\"
    under the soil surface. Keep soil surface moist. Greenhouse
    temperature should be 100 degrees F (plus or minus 5 degrees). Seeds
    begin to germinate after a couple weeks in warm temperatures.

-   Plants are ready in 100 - 120 days to come out as plugs. By planting
    seeds in August, plugs are ready to plant in soil by November. These
    plants are very small; growing plants to a larger size will result
    in increased revegetation success.

*Live Plant Collections*: No more than ¼ of the plants in an area should
be collected. If no more than 0.09 m^2^ (1 ft^2^) are removed from a 0.4
m^2^ (4 ft^2^) area, the plants will grow back in one good growing
season. A depth of 15 cm (6 in) is sufficiently deep for digging plugs.
This will leave enough plants and rhizomes to replenish the stock
annually. Donor plants that are drought-stressed tend to have higher
revegetation success.

Live transplants should be planted in moist (not flooded or anoxic)
soils as soon as possible. Plants should be transported and stored in a
cool location prior to planting. Plugs may be split into smaller units,
generally no smaller than 6 x 6 cm (2.4 x 2.4 in), with healthy rhizomes
and tops. The important factor in live plant collections is to be sure
to include a growing bud in either plugs or rhizomes. Weeds in the plugs
should be removed by hand. For ease in transport, soil may be washed
gently from roots. The roots should always remain moist or in water
until planted.

Clip leaves and stems from 15 to 25 cm (6 to 10 inches); this allows the
plant to allocate more energy into root production. Plant approximately
1 meter apart. Plants should be planted closer together if the site has
fine soils such as clay or silt, steep slopes, or prolonged inundation.

Ideally, plants should be planted in moist soils in late fall just after
the first rains (usually late October to November). This enables plant
root systems to become established before heavy flooding and winter
dormancy occurs. Survival is highest when plants are dormant and soils
are moist. Fertilization is very helpful for plant growth and
reproduction. Many more seeds are produced with moderate fertilization.

##### Management

Heavy grazing will eliminate *Typha* species as well as other native
species from riparian corridors. However, cattails are fairly resistant
to moderate grazing, providing wet soils are not compacted.

Because cattails have relatively little value for ducks, they are often
regarded as undesirable weeds in places intended primarily for ducks. It
has been found that mowing cattails after the heads are well formed but
not mature and then following up with another mowing about a month
later, when new growth is two or three feet high, will kill at least 75%
of the plants. This will enable other emergent vegetation with more
palatable and nutritious seeds to become established.

Ecologically, cattails tend to invade native plant communities when
hydrology, salinity, or fertility change. In this case they out compete
native species, often becoming monotypic stands of dense cattails.
Maintaining water flows into the wetland, reducing nutrient input and
maintaining salinity in tidal marshes will help maintain desirable
species composition. If cattails begin to invade, physical removal may
be necessary.

##### Cultivars, Improved and Selected Materials (and area of origin)

Material from local sources is recommended, though it is available from
most nurseries specializing in aquatic plants.

##### References

Clarke, C.B. 1977. *Edible and useful plants of California*. University
of California Press. 280 pp.

Grace, J.B. 1985. *Juvenile vs. adult competitive abilities in plants:
size-dependence in cattails (Typha).* Ecology 66(5); 1630-1638.

Grace, J.B. & R.G. Wetzel 1982. *Variations in growth and reproduction
within populations of two rhizomatous plant species: Typha latifolia and
Typha angustifolia.* Oecologia 53:258-263.

Grace, J.B. & R.G. Wetzel 1981. *Phenotypic and genotypic components of
growth and reproduction in Typha latifolia: Experimental studies in
marshes of differing successional maturity.* Ecology 62 (3): 699-801.

Harrington, H.D. 1972. *Western edible wild plants*. The University of
New Mexico Press. 156 pp.

Hoag, J.C. & M.E. Sellers (April) 1995. *Use of greenhouse propagated
wetland plants versus live transplants to vegetate constructed or
created wetlands*. Riparian/Wetland Project Information Series No. 7.
USDA, NRCS, Plant Materials Center, Aberdeen, Idaho. 6 pp.

Hickman, J.C. (ed.) 1993 *. The Jepson manual. Higher plants of
California*. University of California Press. 1399 pp.

Hotchkiss, N. & H.L. Dozier 19??. *Taxonomy and distribution of North
American cat-tails*. Am. Midl. Nat. 41: 237-253.

Keator, G., L. Yamane & A. Lewis 1995. *In full view: Three ways of
seeing California plants*. Heyday Books, Berkeley, California.

Roos-Collins, M. 1990. *The flavors of home. A guide to wild edible
plants of the San Francisco Bay area.* Heyday Books, Berkeley,
California. 224 pp.

Shay, J.M. & C.T. Shay 1986. *Prairie marshes in western Canada, with
specific reference to the ecology of five emergent macrophytes*. Can. J.
Bot. 64: 443-454.

##### Prepared By

*Michelle Stevens*

Formerly USDA, NRCS, National Plant Data Center

*Chris Hoag*

Interagency Riparian/Wetland Project

USDA, NRCS, Plant Materials Center, Aberdeen, Idaho

##### Species Coordinator

*M. Kat Anderson*

USDA, NRCS, National Plant Data Center

c/o Plant Science Department, University of California, Davis,
California

Edited: 05dec00 jsp; 04jun03 ahv; 30may06jsp

For more information about this and other plants, please contact your
local NRCS field office or Conservation District, and visit the PLANTS
Web site\<[http://plants.usda.gov](http://plants.usda.gov/)\> or the
Plant Materials Program Web site
\<[http://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov](http://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov/)\>

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