Typha

Typha is a genus of about ten species of monocotyledonous flowering plants in the monogeneric family Typhaceae. The genus has a largely Northern Hemisphere distribution, but also extending into South America. They are known as bulrush or bullrush (mainly in British English), cattail (mainly in American English), and in some (particularly older British) texts as reedmace.

The most widespread species is Typha latifolia, extending across the entire temperate Northern Hemisphere. T. angustifolia is nearly as widespread, but does not extend so far north. T. domingensis is a more southerly American species, extending from the US to South America, while T. laxmannii, T. minima and T. shuttleworthii are largely restricted to Asia and parts of southern Europe.

They are tall wetland plants, typically 1-3m tall (T. minima smaller, 0.5-1m), with bladelike leaves and long cylindrical brown spikes 10-30cm long and 1-4cm broad at the tops of its stems; these spikes are the flowers of the plant. The seeds are minute (about 0.2mm long), and embedded in loose hairs, which makes them very effective at wind dispersal; Typha are often among the first wetland plants to colonise areas of newly exposed wet mud. The plants have rhizomes which also spread horizontally to start new plants, and the spread of cattails is an important part of the process of water bodies being converted to land.

The plant grows in lake margins and marshes, often in dense colonies, and is often considered a weed. However, the plant's root systems help prevent erosion, and the plants themselves are often home to many insects, birds and amphibians.

Several animals eat the roots; some humans eat them as well, and report them to be tasty, generally harvesting them in the fall and winter. The pollen is also sometimes used as a flour supplement, and the young green flowering stalks can be boiled and eaten like corn on the cob.

In North America, the native cattails are increasingly being supplanted by the invasive purple loosestrife, Lythrum salicaria.