Jepson Herbarium
The University and Jepson Herbaria
University of California, Berkeley
Jepson eFlora: Taxon page
Vascular Plants of California
Key to families | Table of families and genera
Previous taxon Index to accepted names and synonyms:
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M |
| N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |
Next taxon

Typha domingensis

SOUTHERN CATTAIL


Higher Taxonomy
Family: TyphaceaeView DescriptionDichotomous Key
Common Name: CATTAIL FAMILY
Habit: Perennial herb, glabrous; monoecious; rhizomes or stolons long; colonial, in wet soil to aquatic. Stem: aerial stem 1, +- cylindric. Leaf: basal and cauline, alternate, 2-ranked, spongy; sheath open; ligule 0; blade +- linear. Inflorescence: spike-like or of spheric, unisexual heads; staminate flowers or heads distal to pistillate ones. Flower: small, densely-packed. Staminate Flower: filaments fused proximally. Pistillate Flower: pistil 1, ovary superior, ovules 1--2(4). Fruit: follicle, splitting in water, or drupe-like.
Genera In Family: 2 genera, +- 32 species: worldwide.
eFlora Treatment Author: S. Galen Smith
Scientific Editor: Douglas H. Goldman, Bruce G. Baldwin.
Genus: TyphaView DescriptionDichotomous Key


Common Name: CATTAIL
Stem: erect, simple, cylindric, firm, air cavities 0. Leaf: ascending; blade C-shaped or planoconvex in ×-section proximally, flat distally, internal air cavities large; sheath-tip lobes present or not. Inflorescence: terminal; flowers 1000+; staminate flowers distal, mixed with many papery scales; pistillate flowers proximal, clustered on peg-like compound pedicels; bractlets many, thread-like with enlarged tips generally visible at spike surface, or 0. Staminate Flower: stamens 2--7 on slender stalk; filaments slender, generally deciduous in fruit. Pistillate Flower: stalk long-hairy, persistent; ovary chambers 1, style 1, persistent, stigma 1; many modified pistils with enlarged sterile ovary, style deciduous. Fruit: fusiform, thin-walled, yellow-brown, wind-dispersed.
Etymology: (Greek: to smoke or emit smoke) Note: Dissecting microscope ideal for Typha identification (flower structures small), which is complicated by hybridization.
Unabridged Note: Typha angustifolia × Typha latifolia (Typha × glauca Godr., pro sp.) and Typha domingensis × Typha latifolia (Typha × provincialis A. Camus) are generally highly sterile and intermediate between parents in most characters. Typha angustifolia × Typha domingensis are generally highly fertile, thus species boundaries are locally obscure. Hybrids involving 3 species are locally common. Although putative hybrids may produce no or few seeds they generally form long-persistent clones.
Reference: Smith 2000 FNANM 22:278--285
Typha domingensis Pers.
NATIVE
Habit: Plant 15--40 dm. Stem: 3--4 mm diam near inflorescence. Leaf: sheath-tip lobes ear-like, membranous or 0; widest fresh blades 6--18 mm wide, dry 5--15 mm wide, orange-brown gland-dotted adaxially on proximal 1--10 cm. Inflorescence: naked stem between staminate, pistillate flowers (0)1--8 cm; staminate scales generally strap-like, tips widened, generally irregularly dissected, yellow-brown; pistillate spike cinnamon to medium brown; compound pedicels short, +- blunt, peg-like in fruit, +- 0.7 mm; pistillate bractlets acute to acuminate, length > pistillate flower hairs, width >= stigma width, straw-colored to light brown, generally paler than stigma. Flower: pollen grains single; stigma linear, +- white in flower, medium- to yellow-brown in fruit; sterile ovary visible at spike surface, +- = pistil hair tips, straw-colored; pistil hair tips +- swollen, straw-colored with large orange-brown spot. Chromosomes: 2n=30.
Ecology: Nutrient-rich freshwater to brackish marshes, wet disturbed places; Elevation: < 1500 m. Bioregional Distribution: NCo, NCoRO, GV, CW, SW, GB, D; Distribution Outside California: to Alaska, eastern North America, worldwide warm temperate, tropics. Flowering Time: Jun--Jul Note: Very variable worldwide; needs study.
Unabridged Note: Plants in southern California are generally small, with lobed leaf-sheath tips. Occasional invasive weed in nutrient-rich places, e.g., in Florida Everglades, Costa Rica.
Jepson eFlora Author: S. Galen Smith
Reference: Smith 2000 FNANM 22:278--285
Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)

Previous taxon: Typha angustifolia
Next taxon: Typha latifolia

Botanical illustration including Typha domingensisbotanical illustration including Typha domingensis


Please use this Google Form for Contact/Feedback

Citation for this treatment: S. Galen Smith 2012, Typha domingensis, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=47463, accessed on December 03, 2024.

Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2024, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on December 03, 2024.

Typha domingensis
click for image enlargement
©2019 Keir Morse
Typha domingensis
click for image enlargement
©2019 Keir Morse
Typha domingensis
click for image enlargement
©2019 Keir Morse
Typha domingensis
click for image enlargement
©2019 Keir Morse
Typha domingensis
click for image enlargement
©2019 Keir Morse

More photos of Typha domingensis
in CalPhotos



Geographic subdivisions for Typha domingensis:
NCo, NCoRO, GV, CW, SW, GB, D
MAP CONTROLS
1. You can change the display of the base map layer control box in the upper right-hand corner.
2. County and Jepson Region polygons can be turned off and on using the check boxes.
map of distribution 1

(Note: any qualifiers in the taxon distribution description, such as 'northern', 'southern', 'adjacent' etc., are not reflected in the map above, and in some cases indication of a taxon in a subdivision is based on a single collection or author-verified occurrence).






 

Data provided by the participants of the  Consortium of California Herbaria.

MAP LEGEND
View all CCH records
All markers link to CCH specimen records. The original determination is shown in the popup window.
Blue markers indicate specimens that map to one of the expected Jepson geographic subdivisions (see left map). Purple markers indicate specimens collected from a garden, greenhouse, or other non-wild location.
Yellow markers indicate records that may provide evidence for eFlora range revision or may have georeferencing or identification issues.
READ ABOUT YELLOW FLAGS

CCH collections by month Flowering-Fruiting Monthly Counts

Duplicates counted once; synonyms included.
Species do not include records of infraspecific taxa, if there are more than 1 infraspecific taxon in CA.
Blue line denotes eFlora flowering time (fruiting time in some monocot genera).