Typha latifolia
Image Metadata
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Created: Saturday, October 27, 2018 - 13:45Headline (Caption): Scale is 1 cm.Standard and Creative Commons Licensing:  Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) Category: FoodRoot Foods |
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Summary:
Cattail, BulrushDescription:
Typha latifolia L. is a tall monocot with thick white rhizomes and characteristic brown spike-like flowers. It is common in ponds and slow moving water.
Cultural Narrative:
Many groups across North America ate the starchy rhizomes, leaf bases, and young flower spikes. The rhizomes were often dug in early spring. They could be cooked in steaming pits or peeled and eaten raw. The rhizomes could also be placed on a hot fire to char the outer epidermal layer which was then peeled and the inner porton eaten.
Location Description:
Cattail grows throughout North America in shallow marshes, swamps, and lake edges.