Inside they are very pithy, an adaptation to growing in flooded environments. The firm flower stem rises tall from the centre of a bundle. At its tip it bears two zones of tiny densely packed flowers. The lower zone of female florets consists of pistils embedded in a mass of bushy bracts. This firm mass matures into a brown cigar-shaped structure, which, in the late fall and winter, ruptures into a fluffy mass of downy seed.
Male flowers form a yellowish cluster several centimetres above the females.
Masses of dusty yellow pollen are released in the early summer and the remaining tissue dries out, falls off or blows away. Cat-tail's habitat includes marshes, lake and river margins, and river deltas and estuaries. B.C's most luxuriant cat-tail stands crowd the channels of the Fraser River estuary, forming almost pure stands many hectares in area. Most often though, you will likely know this species from roadside, drainage and irrigation ditches. Our cat-tail is a most cosmopolitan species occurring in suitable sites in much of the province, ranging around the northern hemisphere and even into northern Africa.