FIELD ID CHARACTERISTICS:
Look for a space between the male and female cattail spikes and narrow, dark leaves, up to 1 cm wide.
Description: Perennial herb 1 to 3 m tall.
Leaves: Dark green, narrow leaves which are strongly convex in cross-section, up to 1 cm wide.
Flowers/Fruit: Dark brown, thin cattail spike with a gap between female and male flower spikes. Leaves, which come off lower part of stem, stand taller than flowering stem. Flowers May to July; fruits June to November.
Habit and Range: Brackish to slightly brackish tidal marshes, ditches, and pond/lake margins in the outer Coastal Plain.
Taxonomic Note: This cattail species is native to the northeast and mid-Atlantic coast of North America, and also native to Eurasia. Not native inland in the US.
COMMON CONFUSIONS:
Typha angustifolia (narrowleaf cattail) is similar to Typha latifolia (broadleaf cattail), but T. angustifolia has darker green, narrower leaves and much narrower cattail spikes. T. angustifolia leaves in cross-section are more convex than in T. latifolia. T. angustifolia (narrowleaf cattail) is also superficially similar to Typha domingensis (southern cattail) which is substantially taller with lighter green leaves. Emerging Typha spp. can be confused with emerging Iris spp., which has leaves arranged more in a fan shape.
Click here to view Typha latifolia.
Click here to view Typha domingensis.
Click here to view Iris virginica.
Link to side-by-side comparisons page
