TYPHALES

Cattail (Typha) cattail order of monocotyledonous flowering plants comprising two families (Sparganiaceae and Typhaceae) and two genera (Sparganium and Typha) of erect or floating marsh, pond, and streamside plants found mainly in temperate and cold regions of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The two families are closely related and have similar technical characters, including separate, petalless, wind-pollinated male and female flowers in dense inflorescences (clusters), but the plants differ significantly in appearance. Members of the burreed family (Sparganiaceae) have spherical flower heads; some species have separate male and female flower heads with the male heads above the female on the same stem, or with the male flowers in the upper part of the same head with the female flowers but being more crowded than the female flowers. The plant stems arise from creeping rootstocks, usually project above the water, and bear long, linear leaves whose lower ends sheath the stem. The cattail family (Typhaceae), also called bulrushes and reedmaces, have an elongate flowering spike that is divided into two parts: a slender yellow upper portion, bearing the male flowers, and a stout brown lower portion, bearing the female flowers. The plant stems arise from a thick rootstock under the water and rise about 2.5 m (8 feet) above the water, bearing two ranks of flat, linear leaves. The burreeds (Sparganium species) are seldom cultivated, but they are an important source of food and cover for wildlife. The cattails (Typha species), also important to wildlife, are often cultivated ornamentally as pond plants and for dried flower arrangements, especially the common cattail (T. latifolia) and the smaller narrow-leaf cattail (T. angustifolia). Cattail leaves are sometimes used for making mats, baskets, chair seats, and other woven articles, and they are also good for caulking and stopping cracks in barrels and boats because of their ability to swell when wet. Cattails have been called the most useful of all wild plants as sources of emergency food. The rootstocks, for example, are a source of an edible starch; the young stems are edible as salad plants or vegetables; and the yellow pollen is considered a nutritious and agreeably flavoured additive to cookie doughs and pancake batters. Even the immature, still-green flowering spikes can be boiled and eaten like corn on the cob.