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Photographer: Merel R. Black
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Family Typhaceae
Typha latifolia L.
broad-leaved cat-tail, common cat-tail
Typha: the Greek name for this plant thought to mean "bog"
latifolia: Latin for "wide to broad leaves"
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| Status: | Native - potentially invasive |
| Plant: | erect, perennial, emergent semi-aquatic, 3'-9' tall with many smooth stems; clone-forming from spreading rhizomes |
| Flower: | brown, 3-parted; inflorescence a 12" spike with male (top) and female (bottom) flowers; blooms May-July |
| Fruit: | hundreds of seeds packed tightly into a brown, cylindrical spike with no bare gap between the male and female flowers |
| Leaf: | bluish-green to grayish-green, up to 1" wide, nearly flat, overlapping each other at the base |
| Habitat: | sun; wet to damp; ditches, marshes, shallows; in muddy soil |
| (Glossary) |
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