Broadleaf Cattail
Typha latifolia
The familiar marsh sentinel, with flat sword leaves and a brown velvet flower spike that ripens into wind-borne fluff. Spreads fast by rhizome to form dense stands — give it a pond edge it can own. Nearly every part is edible, and it shelters nesting marsh birds.
- Family
- Typhaceae
- Type
- grass
- Lifespan
- perennial
- Height
- 3–10 ft
- Spacing
- 2–6 ft apart
- Light
- sun, part shade
- Soil moisture
- wet
- Soil pH
- acidic, neutral, alkaline
- Bloom
- May, June, July
- Bloom colors
- brown
- Wildlife value
- songbirds, mammals
- Landscape uses
- rain garden, naturalizing, erosion control
- Native states
- AK, AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, HI, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, MT, NC, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, VT, WA, WI, WV, WY