Typha angustifolia

Narrow-leaved cattail, Narrow-Leaved Cattail

Family: Typhaceae · Type: perennial · Not Native

Narrow-leaved cattail is a naturalized perennial found in northwestern California, Sierra Nevada, Central Valley, central Coast, San Francisco Bay Area, and southern California in nutrient-rich freshwater to brackish marshes at elevations below 2,000 meters. Flowering from May to August, this plant produces dense dark brown flower spikes with distinctive staminate and pistillate sections. Growing 1.5 to 3 meters tall with slender stems approximately 2 to 3 millimeters in diameter at the flowering region, it forms dense marsh colonies. Its leaves are long and narrow, measuring 4 to 15 millimeters wide when fresh, with distinctive ear-like membranous sheaths that disintegrate with age. The plant's flower spikes have unique characteristics, with staminate scales ranging from hair-like to strap-like and pistillate sections developing compact, peg-like structures in fruit.

Habitat: Nutrient-rich freshwater to brackish marshes, wet disturbed places

Bloom period: May-Aug

Elevation: < 2000 m

Bioregions: NW, SN, GV, CCo, SnFrB, SCo

California counties: Amador, Riverside, San Mateo, Sonoma, Orange, Marin, Ventura, San Bernardino, Los Angeles, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, San Francisco, Inyo, San Diego, El Dorado, Sacramento, Butte, Kern, Mono, Calaveras, Alameda, Contra Costa, Tulare, San Joaquin, Tehama, Glenn, Santa Clara, Merced, Solano, Colusa, Trinity, Monterey, Mendocino, Plumas, Lassen, Yolo, Fresno

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.