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| **BROAD-LEAVED CATTAIL**                                              |
|                                                                       |
| ***Typha latifolia* L.**                                              |
|                                                                       |
| plant symbol = TYLA                                                   |
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###### Contributed By: USDA, NRCS, National Plant Data Center & 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 raw young shoots taste like cucumber and can also be made into
pickles. When

the young shoots are steamed they taste like cabbage. 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 (Roos-Collins 1990; Clarke
1977).

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/image1.png){width="1.4986111111111111in"
height="4.5881944444444445in"}

Newly emerging shoots of cattails are edible, with delicate flavor and
crispy asparagus like texture (Glenn Keator, Linda Yamane, Ann Lewis
1995). The end of a new stem of cattail is popular for eating with
Washoes (Murphy 1959). When mixed with tallow, the brown fuzz can be
chewed like gum.

The Klamath and Modocs of northern California and southern Oregon make
flexible baskets of twined tule or cattail. Cattails or tules were also
twined to form mats of varying sizes for sleeping, sitting, working,
entertaining, covering doorways, for shade, and a myriad of other uses.

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 cradleboards. The down is used for baby beds (Murphey 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), and aesthetics. 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. Moose
and elk eat fresh spring shoots. Shelter and nesting cover are provided
for long-billed marsh wrens, red-wing 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. *Typha latifolia* plants
are 15-30 dm tall. The spike-like, terminal, cylindric inflorescence has
staminate flowers above and pistillate flowers below with a naked axis
between the staminate and pistillate flowers. The spike is green when
fresh, becoming brown as it matures. The basal leaves are thin with
parallel veins running the long, narrow length of the leaf. These plants
are rhizomatous and colonial.

####### Distribution

For current distribution, please consult the Plant Profile page for this
species on the PLANTS Web site. Broad-leaved cattails are common
throughout the United States and temperate and tropical places worldwide
(Hickman 1993). *Typha latifolia* occurs in coastal and valley marshes
at elevations lower than 2,000 m.

##### Establishment

*Adaptation*: *Typha latifolia* generally occurs in shallower water than
*Typha angustifolia*. Compared to *T. angustifolia*, *T. latifolia* is
exploitative in its ability to clone rapidly and produce a large leaf
surface area, which may contribute to its superior competitive ability
(Grace and Wetzel 1982). *Typha latifolia* has been found to be tolerant
of water level fluctuations and moderate soil salinity. Cattail spreads
both vegetatively and by seed, particularly under drawdown (Shay et al.
1986).

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.

Cattails, like many emergent wetland species, tolerate flood drawdown
cycles that occur to varying degrees in different wetland and riparian
systems. Flood and drought are disturbance factors that vary in
frequency, magnitude, and predictability. Frequency relates to the
number of episodes per unit time while magnitude of flooding can be
expressed in terms of water volume, velocity, gradient, depth, duration,
and season of inundation. When planting cattails, the flood-draw-down
cycles must be taken into consideration for successful revegetation.

*Planting*: *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. To ensure a long-term stable
ecosystem, it is recommended that *Typha* be just one of the species in
the mix for wetland restoration.

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

-   Seed is harvested by either taking hand clippers and 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 1/4 of the plants in an area
should be collected. If no more than 0.09 m^2^ (1 ft^2^) should be
removed from a 0.4 m^2^ (4 ft^2^) area, the plants will grow back in the
hole 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
grow back during the growing season. Donor plants, which 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 in); 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 changes. 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)**

Please check the Vendor Database, expected to be on-line through the
PLANTS Web site in 2001 by clicking on Plant Materials. Local sources
are recommended. This species should be available from any local nursery
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 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.

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.

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 cattails.* 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.

Murphy, E.V.A. 1959. *Indian uses of native plants.* Universit*y* of
California Press.

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/Wetlands Project

USDA, NRCS, Plant Materials Center, Aberdeen, Idaho

Email: choag@id.nrcs.usda.gov

**Species Coordinator**

*M. Kat Anderson*

USDA, NRCS, National Plant Data Center

c/o Environmental Horticulture Department, University of California,
Davis, California

Edited: 04dec00 jsp

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

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