North Carolina Botanical Garden

Plant Index

Scientific Name:
Common Name:
Genus:
Family:

Typha angustifolia

Typha angustifolia L.

narrowleaf cattail

Image ID: 25889
Image by: Dakar, Jacob
Image Collection: NCBG Digital Library

PLANT INDEX

ID_PLANT: TYAN
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Typha angustifolia
Include in WOTAS: 1
Publish to Web: 1
Last Modified: 2018-01-10

GENUS INDEX

GENUS CODE: TYPHA
GENUS SCIENTIFIC: Typha
GENUS AUTHORITY: L.
GENUS COMMON: Cattail
GENUS SUMMARY: A genus of 8-13 species, wetland herbs, cosmopolitan.
GENUS IDENTIFICATION:
GENUS REFERENCES: Ward (2007a)=Z; Smith in FNA (2000); Kubitzki in Kubitzki (1998b). Key adapted from FNA.

FAMILY INDEX

FAMILY CODE: TYPHAC
FAMILY SCIENTIFIC: Typhaceae
FAMILY AUTHORITY: A.L. de Jussieu 1789
FAMILY COMMON: Cattail Family
FAMILY SUMMARY: A family of 2 genera with 16-30 species, wetland herbs, cosmopolitan. The combination of the traditional families Typhaceae and Sparaganiaceae is controversial; while there is no doubt of their sister relationship, they are amply distinct and arguably best and conservatively retained as separate families.
FAMILY REFERENCE: Kaul in FNA (2000); Smith in FNA (2000); Thieret & Luken (1996); Kubitzki in Kubitzki (1998b). [including SPARGANIACEAE]

NCBG DESCRIPTIVES

INTRO: Emergent aquatic perennial of brackish to fresh waters of marshes and swamps, usually tidal, and also inland in non-tidal wetlands (where it is probably introduced); often forming colonies.
STEMS: Stems stout, stiff, unbranched.
LEAVES: Leaves mostly basal, alternate and overlapping, with sheathing base and small lobes where sheath meets blade, linear, 1 1/2-5 ft. long and no more than 1/2 in. wide, with the inner surface flat to slightly concave.
INFLORESCENCE:
FLOWERS: Flowers in a cylindridal terminal spike broken into 2 sections, the lower part all female (pistillate) flowers and the upper (separated by a gap) all male (staminate) flowers. The tiny flowers are densely packed, the female ones starting out pale green and becoming dark brown, the male ones yellowish-brown.
FRUITS: Fruit numerous minute nutlets with fluffy white tufts.
COMMENTS: The similar T. domingensis is infrequently found in similar habitats. Its leaves mostly lack the lobes at the junction of blade and sheath; the pistillate portion of the spike is light cinnamon-brown at maturity rather than dark brown.
HEIGHT: 3-5 ft.

DURATION: Perennial
HABIT: Herb

LEAF ARRANGEMENT: Basal
LEAF COMPLEXITY: Simple
LEAF RETENTION:

FLORAL CHARACTERISTICS
SYMMETRY:
BLOOM TIME: May-Jul

Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
			x	x	x	x	x

BLOOM COLOR: Green and brown

White	Red	Pink	Orange	Yellow	Green	Blue	Lavender	Purple	Violet	Brown	Not Applicable
					x					x

FRUITING PERIOD: Jun-Nov.

DISTRIBUTION
HABITAT TYPE: Aquatic
NATIVE RANGE: eastern & central North America

HORTICULTURAL
Plant Sale Text:

Bloom Table Text:

NCBG Location:

Cultural Notes:

SOIL MOISTURE: Moist/Wet
LIGHT EXPOSURE: Sun, Part Shade
MINIMUM HARDINESS ZONE:
MAXIMUM HARDINESS ZONE:
GERMINATION CODE:
WILDLIFE VALUE:
DEER RESISTANCE:

GRIM COLLECTIONS

Coll_id	Project	Collection date	Collector	Action
427	SOS	2015-08-06	Maynard	View
438	SOS	2015-08-17	Heraty	View
443	SOS	2015-08-18	Dakar	View
450	SOS	2015-08-18	Driskill	View
490	SOS	2015-09-10	Driskill	View
707	SOS	2016-09-29	Faucette	View
711	SOS	2016-09-08	Dakar	View
715	SOS	2016-09-19	Walker	View
720	SOS	2016-09-20	Healy	View
723	SOS	2016-09-21	Healy	View
736	SOS	2016-09-21	Dakar	View
738	SOS	2016-09-21	Dakar	View
745	SOS	2016-09-22	Faucette	View
749	SOS	2016-09-22	Dakar	View
751	SOS	2016-09-28	Dakar	View
777	SOS	2016-10-04	Dakar	View

GRIM ACCESSIONS

acc_id	acc_num	acc_dt	coll_id	Action
2029	1986-1823			View
2358	1986-2195			View
2403	1986-2241			View

GRIM PLANTINGS

plt_num	acc_id	loc_num	pers_num	inst_dt	Action
3270	2029	61	NCBG staff	1986-12-23	View
4048	2358	81	NCBG staff	1986-12-31	View
4100	2403	141	NCBG staff	1986-12-31	View

USDA PLANTS DATABASE

USDA Symbol: TYAN
USDA Common Name: Narrowleaf Cattail
Native Status: L48 (NI), CAN (N)
Distribution: USA (AR, CA, CO, CT, DC, DE, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, MT, NC, ND, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, VA, VT, WA, WI, WV, WY), CAN (BC, MB, NB, NS, ON, PE, QC, SK)
Duration: Perennial
Growth Habit: Forb/herb

NATIONAL WETLAND INDICATOR STATUS

Region:	AGCP	AK	AW	CB	EMP	GP	HI	MW	NCNE	WMVE
Status:	OBL		OBL		OBL	OBL		OBL	OBL	OBL

This information is derived from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 2016 National Wetland Plant List, Version 3.3 (Lichvar, R.W., D.L. Banks, W.N. Kirchner, and N.C. Melvin. 2016. The National Wetland Plant List: 2016 wetland ratings. Phytoneuron 2016-30: 1-17. Published 28 April 2016. ISSN 2153 733X). Regions: AGCP-Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain, AK-Alaska, AW-Arid West, CB-Caribbean, EMP-Eastern Mountains and Piedmont, GP-Great Plains, HI-Hawaii, MW-Midwest, NCNE-Northcentral and Northeast, WMCV-Western Mountains, Valleys & Coast

WEAKLEY FLORA

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Typha angustifolia
COMMON NAME: Narrowleaf Cattail
SYNONYMY: [= C, F, FNA, G, GW, K, Pa, RAB, Va, W, WH3, WV, Z; < T. angustifolia - S (also see T. domingensis)]
PHENOLOGY: May-Jul; Jun-Nov.
HABITAT: Brackish to fresh waters of marshes and swamps, usually tidal, and also inland in non-tidal wetlands (where probably only introduced).
COMMENTS: NS west to ND, south to SC, FL (?), LA, and TX (?); Eurasia. Stuckey & Salamon (1987) consider T. angustifolia an invasive alien in North America, but later studies suggest that it was native at least in coastal areas of ne. and Mid-Atlantic North America, and has expanded its range westward in recent decades (Shih & Finkelstein 2008).
RANGE MAP: Typha angustifolia.png

Key to Map Symbols

ABOUT FAMILY (Weakley Flora)
Typhaceae A.L. de Jussieu 1789 (Cattail Family)
SUMMARY: A family of 2 genera with 16-30 species, wetland herbs, cosmopolitan. The combination of the traditional families Typhaceae and Sparaganiaceae is controversial; while there is no doubt of their sister relationship, they are amply distinct and arguably best and conservatively retained as separate families.
REFERENCE: Kaul in FNA (2000); Smith in FNA (2000); Thieret & Luken (1996); Kubitzki in Kubitzki (1998b). [including SPARGANIACEAE]

ABOUT GENUS (Weakley Flora)
Typha L. (Cattail)
SUMMARY: A genus of 8-13 species, wetland herbs, cosmopolitan.
REFERENCE: Ward (2007a)=Z; Smith in FNA (2000); Kubitzki in Kubitzki (1998b). Key adapted from FNA.

HERBARIUM RESOURCES

SERNEC: Find Typha angustifolia in Southeast Regional Network of Experts and Collections (if available)
UNC SERNEC: Find Typha angustifolia in University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Herbarium - Southeast Regional Network of Experts and Collections (if available)

WEB RESOURCES

USDA: Find Typha angustifolia in USDA Plants
NPIN: Find Typha angustifolia in NPIN Database
FNA: Find Typha angustifolia in the Flora of North America (if available)
Google: Search Google for Typha angustifolia

IMAGE USE RECORDS

ID IMAGE: 25889 - Primary Image FloraQuest Plant Detail Page (Landscape Preferred)
ID IMAGE1: 25889 - Primary Image WOTAS
ID IMAGE2: 0 - Secondary Image WOTAS
ID IMAGE3: 0 - Primary Image Plant Sale Sign (Landscape Only)
ID IMAGE4: 0 - Primary Image New Plant Sale Label (Portrait Only)