Cattails

Typha spp.

Sizes: Bareroot Availability
*Available Upon Request*

Aquatic Emergent
Max Size: 10′ tall x spreading
Average Size: 8′ tall x spreading

Muck, Sand
Sun
Aquatic, Very Moist, Usually Moist
Moderately tolerant of inundation of brackish water

As an aquatic emergent, cattails are found naturally in land that is changing from wet to dry. With large vessels in its leaves that transport oxygen to the submerged rhizome, cattails are a plethora of uses.

Some other benefits of cattails include: filtering heavy runoff, stabilizing soil, minimizing bank erosion, and supporting wildlife. They provide nesting and breeding habitat for wildlife such as red-winged blackbirds and migratory ducks. Cattails can also be useful for attracting gamefish such as largemouth bass, crappie, and various sunfish species. Fishermen can often increase catch rates by targeting those areas in and around cattail stands.

Numberous indigenous tribes used cattail roots and stems as a dietary staple. The roots can be peeled, boiled, and eaten as potatoes, or macerated and boiled down for a sweet syrup. The young stems can be eaten raw or boiled, and the lower parts of the leaves can be used in salads. The young, green flowers can be boiled, covered in butter, and eaten like corn on the cob. The Brown flowers are NOT edible. Various parts of the plant were also historically used in bedding; the fluff of the seeds to stuff pillows, the reeds used in mattresses, stems weaved into mats, etc. The Omaha-Ponca people used the down as dressing for burns, scalds, as a talcum-esque chafing preventions for infants, and for quilting. It is sold in Mexican-American herbal stores as aguapá and is used as a diuretic and for insect bites