Cattail Sedge (Carex typhina)
- Family: Sedge (Cyperaceae)
- Flowering: April-September.
- Field Marks: This species is recognized by its thick, cylindrical female heads with the male flowers below. The beaks of the perigynia point outward or upward, not downward.
- Habitat: Wet woods, swamps, wet prairies.
- Habit: Tufted perennial herb with thickened rootstocks.
- Stems: Erect, slender, rough to the touch, up to 2 feet tall.
- Leaves: Elongated, narrow, longer than the stem, up to 1/4 inch broad.
- Flowers: Male and female borne separately; the male flowers at the base of some of the female spikes; the female spikes 1-6 per stem, cylindric, up to 2 inches long, up to 1 inch broad.
- Scales: Oblong to lanceolate, rounded or pointed at the tip.
- Sepals: 0.
- Petals: 0.
- Stamens: 3.
- Pistils: Enclosed in a perigynium; each perigynium obovoid, inflated at the base, abruptly tapering to a 2-toothed beak, up to 1/3 inch long.
- Fruits: Achenes triangular, obovoid, up to 1/10 inch long.
- Notes: The achenes are eaten by waterfowl.
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