Common cattail is a very familiar inhabitant of wet areas throughout the Americas, as well as in
Europe, Asia, and Africa. It is a vigorous colonizer of disturbed areas
with shallow water for much or all of the season. It forms dense colonies, spreading by cloning itself, and is
common in roadside drainage ditches and ponds and swamps. In fact, cattails have thrived because humans
are always reshaping the landscape. Over time, they are replaced by other species,
still present but less dominant.
Plants: 3-9½′ (1-3 m) tall, with long, thick, flat,
straplike pointed leaves like giant grass blades.
Leaves: ⅛-1″ (6-29 mm) wide and up to 8′ (2.5 m)
long.
Flowers: A single stout smooth stem, up to ½″ (1.3 cm) around, supports the flowerhead. A large sausage-shaped
female flowerhead is the most noticeable characteristic. It is ⅝-1¾″ thick ⨉ 6-10″ tall (1.8-5 ⨉ 15-25 cm).
Above it is a narrower spike of male flowers, sometimes separated from the male spike by up to
1½″ (3.8 cm). Flowers appear from June to July. As the plant ages, the male flowers wither, and the female
spike turns dark brown, feeling like dense felt.
Fruits: If the flowers were fertilized, they produce small nutlike
achenes or seeds. Gradually the seeds peel away from the stem, floating on windborne
parachutes to begin again.
These plants hybridize freely with narrower varieties, so there are many subtle variations. We
distinguish here only between this and Typha angustifolia,
narrow-leaved cattails.
Edibility: Cattail roots may be eaten after peeling and cooking them.
Leaf bases and peeled stems are edible, cooked or raw. Young flower spikes are also edible.