Typha is a genus of about ten species of monocotyledonous flowering
plants in the monogeneric family, Typhaceae. The genus has a largely
Northern Hemisphere distribution, but is essentially cosmopolitan. These
plants are known as bulrush or bullrush (mainly in British English),
cattail (mainly in American English), or in some older British texts as
reedmace.
Cattails or bulrushes are wetland plants, typically 1 to 3 m tall (T.
minima is smaller: 0.5-1 m), with spongy, strap-like leaves and starchy,
creeping stems (rhizomes). The leaves are alternate and mostly basal to
a simple, jointless stem that eventually bears the flowers. The
rhizomes spread horizontally beneath the surface of muddy ground to
start new upright growth, and the spread of cattails is an important
part of the process of open water bodies being converted to vegetated
marshland and eventually dry land.
Typha plants are monoecious, wind-pollinated, and bear unisexual flowers developing in dense, complex spikes. The male flower spike develops at the top of the vertical stem, above the female flower spike (see figure below). The male (staminate) flowers are reduced to a pair of stamens and hairs and wither once the pollen is shed, leaving a short, bare stem portion above the female inflorescence. The dense cluster of female flowers forms a cylindrical spike some 10 to as much as 40 cm long and 1 to 4 cm broad. Seeds are minute (about 0.2 mm long), and attached to a thin hair or stalk, which effects wind dispersal. Typha are often among the first wetland plants to colonise areas of newly exposed wet mud.
Typha plants are monoecious, wind-pollinated, and bear unisexual flowers developing in dense, complex spikes. The male flower spike develops at the top of the vertical stem, above the female flower spike (see figure below). The male (staminate) flowers are reduced to a pair of stamens and hairs and wither once the pollen is shed, leaving a short, bare stem portion above the female inflorescence. The dense cluster of female flowers forms a cylindrical spike some 10 to as much as 40 cm long and 1 to 4 cm broad. Seeds are minute (about 0.2 mm long), and attached to a thin hair or stalk, which effects wind dispersal. Typha are often among the first wetland plants to colonise areas of newly exposed wet mud.
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