Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Monocots: Commelinids: Poales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Typha latifolia
FAMILY
Typhaceae
Go to FSUS key
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
Read Edible Wild Plants: Cattails from Lytton Musselman and the Southern Appalachian Botanical Society.
Learn more about Common Cattail from the Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Typha latifolia
FAMILY
Typhaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America
Typha latifolia
SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 019-01-001:
Typha latifolia FAMILY Typhaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Typha latifolia
COMMON NAME:
Common Cattail, Broadleaf Cattail
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
)
USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_tyla_001_lvd
)
USDA / Selected Weeds of the US. 1970 swus_page_011b
)
JK Marlow jkm0505d_03
May Pickens County SC
Clemson Forest
Fuzzy, brown cylindric spikes (cattails) persist into winter, per Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005).
)
JK Marlow jkm160504_472
May Jackson County NC
Pulley Park
Leaves linear, erect, thick, sheathing the base of the stem, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
)
JK Marlow jkm220503_7527
May Greenville County SC
Bald Rock Heritage Preserve
)
JK Marlow jkm140711_832
July Greenville County SC
Swamp Rabbit Trail
Leaves up to 1" wide and 10' tall, per Atlantic Coastal Plain Wildflowers (Nelson, 2006).
)
JK Marlow jkm140711_832b
July Greenville County SC
Swamp Rabbit Trail
Female flowers in brown cylindrical spike; male spike above and contiguous, per Atlantic Coastal Plain Wildflowers (Nelson, 2006).
)
JK Marlow jkm140809_428
August Greenville County SC
Swamp Rabbit Trail
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Typha latifolia
FAMILY
Typhaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Typha latifolia
FAMILY
Typhaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Flora of North America
Typha latifolia
SYNONYMOUS WITH
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 019-01-001:
Typha latifolia
FAMILY
Typhaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Typha latifolia
1937
Forb
Perennial
Monoecious
Habitat: Fresh waters of ponds, lakes, ditches, marshes, including in tidal freshwater marshes, per Weakley's Flora
Native to the Carolinas & Georgia
Common
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.
LEAVES:
Simple
RHIZOMES? STOLONS?
Rhizomatous
FLOWER:
Spring/Summer
Pistillate spike: Green becoming brown
Staminate spike: Yellowish (the two usually running together)
Unisexual
FRUIT:
Summer/Fall
Achene
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Wildflowers (Nelson, 2006) p239
- Gardening with the Native Plants of Tennessee (Hunter, 2002) p184
- Newcomb's Wildflower Guide (Newcomb, 1977) p410
- Wildflowers of the Atlantic Southeast (Cotterman, Waitt, & Weakley, 2019) p480
- Wildflowers of the Carolina Lowcountry (Porcher, 1995) p099
- Wildflowers of the Eastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1999) p137
- Wild Flowers of NC, 2nd edition (Justice, Bell, & Lindsey, 2005) p003
- Field Guide to the Wildflowers of Georgia (Chafin, 2016) p427
- Wildflowers of Tennessee (Carman, 2005) p350
- Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005) p403
- Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998) p001
If a search such as "Carex leptalea var. leptalea" doesn't deliver the results you want, try "Carex leptalea".
Or, to minimize chances of a misspelling, try just "Carex le".
Less is more: If "pencil flower" doesn't deliver the results you want, try "pencil".