A tall wetland plant with strap-like leaves and dense brown sausage-shaped flower spikes, found in marshes across temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.
Description
Cattails rise from creeping rhizomes in shallow water with sword-like green leaves up to two metres tall. Their distinctive cylindrical flower spikes split open in autumn to release dense white fluff.
Cultivation
A vigorous spreader, cattail colonizes still or slow water and is sometimes planted in constructed wetlands for water treatment. It can crowd out other aquatic plants.
Uses
Indigenous peoples ate the rhizomes and young shoots, wove leaves into mats, and used the fluff as tinder and insulation. Birds nest in dense stands.
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Cattail starts with C and ends with L. Browse other plants along the same letter.
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