Typha latifolia

Broad-leaved cattail

Family: Typhaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Broad-leaved cattail is a California native perennial found in unpolluted to nutrient-rich freshwater marshes at elevations below 2,300 meters. Flowering from June to July, this plant produces dense cylindrical brown flower spikes with distinctive green stigmas that darken to reddish-brown as they mature. Growing with robust stems 1.5 to 3 meters tall and reaching up to 7 millimeters in diameter near the flower clusters, it forms dense stands in wetland environments. Its long, flat leaves are notably wide, measuring 10 to 29 millimeters across when fresh, with distinctive ear-like papery sheaths at the leaf base. The plant's unique flower spikes feature male and female sections with colorless scales and compact, mottled brown clusters that develop elongating bristle-like stems as the seeds mature.

Habitat: Unpolluted to nutrient-rich freshwater (brackish) marshes

Bloom period: Jun-Jul

Elevation: < 2300 m

Bioregions: CA

California counties: Los Angeles, Inyo, San Diego, Riverside, Kern, Orange, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, Plumas, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Ventura, Butte, El Dorado, Fresno, Lake, Santa Cruz, Sonoma, Tuolumne, Monterey, Sutter, Amador, Sacramento, Modoc, Marin, Tehama, Nevada, Lassen, San Joaquin, Contra Costa, Solano, Calaveras, Shasta, Humboldt, Mendocino, Del Norte, Mono, Santa Clara, Sierra, Merced, Siskiyou, Tulare, Trinity, Glenn, Yolo, Colusa, Stanislaus, San Benito, Mariposa

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