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Typha domingensis

(Narrow-Leaved Cumbungi (Aust))

Common Names

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Click on the language to view common names.

Common Names in English:

Cattail, Cumbungi (Aboriginal - Aust), Narrow-Leaf Cumbungi, Narrow-Leaved Cumbungi (Aust), Southern Cat-Tail, Southern Cattail, Southern Cattail (Usa), Tall Cattail, Totora

Common Names in Spanish:

Espadaña, Espadaña De México, Piripepe, Pirivevýi, Totora

Description

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Family Typhaceae

Herbs, perennial , of fresh to slightly brackish wetlands, often emergent, rhizomatous , caulescent in flower, smooth , glabrous . Leaves basal and cauline, 2-ranked, mostly ascending ; sheaths open, margins overlapping, clear, summit tapered into blade or auriculate ; blades twisted into loose helix, narrowly linear-attenuate, apex acute, aerenchyma prominent . Inflorescences 1, terminal , erect , equaled or exceeded by cauline leaves, cylindric , spikelike (hereafter "spikes") ; staminate spike flowers deciduous but axis generally persistent ; staminate spike distal to pistillate spike; young spikes subtended by early-deciduous bracts resembling reduced foliage leaves, 1 bract subtending pistillate spike, 1 bract subtending and several within staminate spike;,staminate spike flowers deciduous but axis generally persistent; staminate axis with numerous simple or branched scales arising among flowers; pistillate axis with numerous projections ("compound pedicels"), evident on denuded fruiting spike, each bearing several flowers; in some species flowers subtended by slender bracteoles. Flowers unisexual , staminate and pistillate on same plants , numerous, densely packed in unisexual spikes, minute, wind-pollinated (stigmas receptive several days before pollen is shed) ; perianth probably represented by staminate scales and by hairs on stipes of pistillate flowers. Staminate flowers stipitate ; stamens 1--several, filaments connate ; anthers basifixed , connective distally extended. Pistillate flowers hypogynous, stipitate (stipe bearing numerous straight hairs, developing after flowering, acting in wind dispersal of fruits) ; pistils 1, 1-carpellate; ovariesy 1-locular; placentation apical; ovules 1; styles 1, unbranched; stigmas 1, whitish or green, drying brown, 1-sided, smooth; agamous flowers numerous (ovaries modified after flowering as carpodia) . Fruits follicles, fusiform ; pericarp clear, hyalinetransparent, splitting longitudinally in water to release seed. Seeds: endosperm starchy, oily; embryo cylindric.

Genus Genera 1, species ca. 8--13 (3 in the flora ) : boreal to tropical regions worldwide.

The extensive literature on morphology and taxonomy of Typhaceae has been recently reviewed by (U. Müller-Doblies and D. Müller-Doblies (1977) ; R. M. T. Dahlgren and H. T. Clifford (1982) ; R. M. T. Dahlgren et al. (19853) ; and J. W. Thieret and J. O. Luken (1996) . The inflorescence is probably reduced from a compound structure.

Sparganium and Typha are very similar and perhaps should be placed in one family , as summarized by J. W. Thieret and J. O. Luken (1996) : T (J. W. Thieret and J. O. Luken 1996) . Other authors (e.g. , D. Müller-Doblies 1970; U. Müller-Doblies and D. Müller-Doblies 1977; W. Schultze-Motel 1980) placed Sparganium in the Typhaceae.

Pre-Englerian [authors] ... placed Typha and Sparganium together in a single family, the Typhaceae. [H. G. A.] Engler (1886) put these genera in separate families, thus starting a tradition that has been followed by almost all subsequent authors until recently, when [D.] Müller-Doblies (1970) re-examined the relationships of the genera and concluded that "the five different characters by which Engler justified the family Sparganiaceae are wrong or, in two cases, without any significance ... The few remaining but very obvious differences may be explained to a large extend [sic ] by an adaptation of Typha to anemochory [wind-dispersal of propagules]...."

The phylogenetic relationships of the Typhales with other families remain controversial, and it seems best to treat the taxon as an isolated order of uncertain relationships pending further research. Various authors have placed the Typhales close to or within the Pandanales, Arales, Poales , Liliales, Pontederiales , or Philydrales or in the Commeliniflorae generally close to the Cyperales and Juncales (J. W. Thieret and J. O. Luken 1996) .[1]

Genus Typha

Plants of fresh to slightly brackish wetlands, often emergent. Rhizomes at base of erect shoots , mostly horizontal, unbranched, to 70 cm ´ 5--40 mm, starchy, firm, scaly . Erect shoots vegetative or flowering, single at rhizome apices or arising from shoot bases, thus clustered, unbranched, to 4 m , elliptic in cross section ; stems often somewhat compressed distally, aerenchyma absent. Foliage leaves persistent , intergrading proximally with scale leaves, to 15 on each flowering shoot; blade twisted into loose helix, mostly slightly oblanceolate , thickly concave-convex or plano-convex proximally to thinly plane distally (abaxially keeled in the Old World Typha. eleiphantina Roxburgh) ; mucilage-secreting glands numerous in adaxial surface of sheath and sometimes proximally on blade, colorless to brown, roughly rectangular. Inflorescences: staminate scales shorter than or exceeding flowers; pistillate spikes usually persisting into winter, when dry fruiting flowers often falling in masses; pistillate bracteoles absent or numerous, colorless except for brown apical blade at spike surface, filiform , blade club-shaped to lanceoloid. Staminate flowers : anthers dehiscing longitudinally, 4-sporangiate. Pistillate flowers: pistil hairs colorless and wholly filiform, or apically enlarged and brown, exceeded by stigmas; carpodia obovoid , spongy , bearing rudimentary styles. x = 15.

The extensive literature on Typha has been reviewed (C. M. Finlayson et al. 1983; J. B . Grace and J. S. Harrison 1986; J. W. Thieret and J. O. Luken 1996). A modern taxonomic revision is much needed, especially for eastern Asia, adjacent islands, and South America (S. G. Smith 1987) ; the latest worldwide monograph is that by E. M. Kronfeld (1889). The center of diversity (ca. 6 species) is central Eurasia .

Typha is ecologically important in many fresh to slightly brackish wetlands, often emergent in up to 1.5 m of water. Each spike may produce hundreds of thousands seeds, which are efficiently wind-dispersed and germinate on bare wet soils or under very shallow water. The seedlings rapidly form clones by means of rhizomes in the first season , flower the second season (R. R. Yeo 1964), and often form very large, persistent, often monospecific stands. Some species produce large amounts of biomass , comparable to the most productive agricultural crops . The three species are ecotypically well differentiated in North America (S. J. McNaughton 1966). Some mechanisms of competition between Typha species were studied by J. B. Grace and R. G. Wetzel (1982) and J. B. Grace (1988) (cf. Thieret and Luken 1996;, J. B. Grace and J. S. Harrison 1986).

Common teratological forms are longitudinally split pistillate spikes (caused by parasitic insects), pistillate spikes interrupted by zones of naked axis, and partially merged pistillate and staminate spikes.

Typha species are or have been utilized in numerous ways worldwide (C. M. Finlayson et al. 1983; J. B. Grace and J. S. Harrison 1986; J. F. Morton 1975; V. Ramey 1981; J. W. Thieret and J. O. Luken 1996). Leaves are used for dwellings (walls, roof thatch, floor coverings) ; for mats, baskets, and other handicraft objects; for caning chairs; and for caulking barrels , boats , and houses. "Fluff" from fruiting spikes is used for tinder and insulation; for dressing burns ; and for stuffing pillows , quilts, mattresses, life preservers, toys, and diapers. Young shoot bases, young rhizomes, starch from mature rhizomes, staminate flowers before anthesis , and pollen are all minor sources of food. Typha is valuable as habitat and food for many kinds of wildlife. It is useful for removal of various kinds of pollutants; a potential source of fiber for paper and other products; and a potential source of energy, e.g. , for alcohol manufacture. The seeds comprise about 18--20% of an edible oil (69% linolenic acid). Several species are cultivated as ornamentals . The North American species are often sold commercially and planted for wildlife habitat and in wetland restoration .

The larger Typha species and T. ´glauca can be serious weeds in managed aquatic systems worldwide, where they can invade canals, ditches, reservoirs , cultivated fields , and farm ponds ; they can be a nuisance in recreational lakes ; and they can reduce biodiversity and displace species more desirable for certain kinds of wildlife (J. B. Grace and J. S. Harrison 1986; J. F. Morton 1975; J. W. Thieret and J. O. Luken 1996).

Users of this treatment should be aware of the following: 1) Leaves shrink considerably in width as they dry. 2) Leaf mucilage glands are usually colorless and difficult to see in fresh leaves of all three species early in the season and in Typha latifolia at all stages. They are brown and clearly evident to the unaided eye in mid- to late-season fresh or dried T. angustifolia and T. domingensis and are easily stained (with, e.g., safranin). Brown necrotic spots, apparently caused by feeding arthropods , may superficially resemble mucilage glands. 3) Spikes are commonly poorly developed as a result of drought or other causes; fruiting spike thicknesses given herein are for normal spikes. 4) Except for the presence of mucilage glands on the leaf blades, unique to T. domingensis and its hybrids, the microscopic flower and bracteole structures are generally essential for accurate identification of Typha species and hybrids. This is in part because of changes in the inflorescences during development and in part because of phenotypic plasticity , especially of leaf blade widths. It is often necessary to use forceps to pull a few pistillate flowers out of the spike and observe them with a dissecting microscope at 20´ X to 30´ X. 5) Pollen is often infested with fungi, which attach the grains together and simulate genetically aborted grains, and the grains of T. angustifolia and T. domingensis often adhere in small groups for no obvious reason.

Hybrids: Putative hybrids among the three North American species have been experimentally produced and occur in most regions of sympatry and have been experimentally produced (S. G. Smith 1967, 1987). Local studies were provided (J. R. Dugle and T. P. Copps 1972; T. M. Tompkins and J. Taylor 1983). Protogyny and slight differences in flowering dates favor interspecific pollination. Hybrid seedlings are likely wherever two species form mixed stands and bare wet soil is available for seed germination and seedling establishment. 1) T. latifolia ´ T. angustifolia (=T. ´glauca Godr., pro sp.), often called "hybrid cattail," is abundant throughout most of the region of sympatry of the parents except along the southeast coast, where it is uncommon. Almost all plants are putative ff1s which are intermediate between the parental species in all morphologic characters studied and are highly sterile , producing very few or no seeds or viable pollen grains . Fertile or sterile intermediates between T. ´glauca and T. angustifolia occasionally occur, however. In spite of its sterility, T. ´glauca is remarkably successful ecologically. It often spreads by means of rhizomes to form often very large clones and out-competes the parental species, especially in eutrophic , disturbed habitats with unstable water levels (S. W. Harris and W. H. Marshall 1963; S. G. Smith 1987). Unfortunately it has been treated as a species by many authors (e.g., N. Hotchkiss and H. L. Dozier 1949). 2) Typha domingensis ´ T. latifolia (= T. ´provincialis A. Camus, T. bethulona Costa) is known only from very few collections in Arkansas, California, Florida, Missouri, Nebraska, and North Carolina. All of these are highly sterile putative F1s except for one putative F2 , in which the characteristics of the parental species are recombined, from southern California. 3) Typha angustifolia ´ T. domingensis is known from scattered specimens in Arkansas, California, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, and Nebraska. It is not known from the southeast coast, perhaps because of differences between the species in flowering dates. Most plants are highly fertile, and some may be F2 or later generation hybrids. 4) Putative T. angustifolia ´ T. domingensis ´ T. latifolia trihybrids are locally common in California and rare in south-central United States. Introgression between the interfertile T. angustifolia and T. domingensis is presumably probably locally common in the south-central U.S. and north-central California, while introgression between T. latifolia and the other two species is probably very uncommon because of hybrid sterility. Published research presumably demonstrating introgression (e.g., N.C. Fassett and B. M. Calhoun 1952) is faulty (S. G. Smith 1967, 1987). The tetraploid T. orientalis of the Pacific Basin may be of hybrid origin (B. G. Briggs and L. A. S. Johnson 1968; S. G. Smith 1967, 1987).[2]

Physical Description

Species Typha domingensis

Erect shoots 150--400 cm, not glaucous; flowering shoots 1--2 cm thick in middle ; stems 3--4 mm thick near spike. Leaves: sheath sides membranous, margin broadly clear, summit tapered to blade or with persistent , membranous auricles; mucilage glands at sheath-blade transition orange-brown, numerous on entire sheath and proximal 1--10 cm of blade; widest blades on shoot 6--18 mm wide when fresh, 5--15 mm when dry; distal blade about equaling inflorescence. Inflorescences: staminate spike separated from pistillate by (0--) 1--8 cm of naked axis, ca. 1.4 X longer than pistillate, 1 cm thick at anthesis ; staminate scales straw-colored to mostly bright orange-brown, variable in same spike, linear to cuneate, often laciniate distally, to 3--4 ´ 0.3 mm; pistillate spikes in flower when fresh bright cinnamon-brown with whitish stigmas (drying brownish), later orange- (to medium) brown, in fruit generally paler as stigmas and often bracteole blades wear off, ca. 6--35 cm ´ 5--6 mm in flower, 15--25 mm in fruit; compound pedicels in fruit peg-like, ca. 0.6--0.9 mm; pistillate bracteole blades forming spike surface before flowering, later slightly exceeded by stigmas and slightly exceeding pistil hairs , straw-colored to bright orange-brown, much paler than to nearly same color as stigmas, irregularly narrowly to broadly spatulate or lanceolate, 0.8 ´ 0.1--0.3 mm, mostly wider than stigmas, apex variable in same inflorescence or different plants , acute or acuminate. Staminate flowers 5 mm; anthers 2--2.5 mm, thecae yellow, apex bright orange-brown; pollen in single grains. Pistillate flowers 2 mm in flower, 8--9 mm in fruit; pistil-hair tips straw-colored to orange-brown in mass, usually with 1 subapical bright orange-brown, generally enlarged cell ; stigmas often deciduous in fruit, in flower erect, elongating, bending to form surface mat, white in flower when fresh, later bright orange-brown, narrowly linear-lanceolate, ca. 1 ´ 0.1 mm; carpodia slightly exceeded by pistil hairs, usually evident at fruiting spike surface, straw-colored, orange-spotted, apex broadly rounded . 2n = 30. [source]

Typha domingensis aggressively invades and forms nearly pure stands in brackish or nutrient-enriched wetlands in the Florida Everglades and elsewhere. It is established but does not mature fruits on the cold coast of northern California. There are specimens of putative hybrids with T. angustifolia beyond the main range of T. domingensis, in southeastern and northwestern Nebraska and southeastern Kentucky, and with T. latifolia in southeastern Nebraska. Vegetative T. domingensis or hybrids occur on the Atlantic Coast north as far as Delaware. (S. G. Smith, unpublished). The northern Illinois locality is a power plant cooling pond . The Wyoming record is from a hot spring and may be a hybrid with T. latifolia. Typha domingensis probably should be treated as a highly variable pantropic and warm temperate species, occurring to 40º E north and south latitude worldwide, and needing study to determine infraspecific taxa and delimitation from related species (B . G. Briggs and L. A. S. Johnson and B. G. Briggs 1968; S. G. Smith 1987). For hybrids see also genus and key . [source]

Habit: Forb/herb

Flowers: Bloom Period: February, March, April, May, June, July. • Flower Color: bronze, brown

Size/Age/Growth

Size: 6-8' tall.

Habitat

Often in brackish water or wet soil; 0--2000 m [3].

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 4,653 meters (0 to 15,266 feet).[4]

Biology

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Reproduction

Duration: Perennial

Growth

Culture: Space 9-12" apart.

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Sun to Partial Shade.

Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 5a, 5b, 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b, 9a, 9b, 10a, 10b, 11. (map)

Taxonomy

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Unambiguous Synonyms

  1. Typha angustata Bory & Chaubard
  2. Typha Angustifolia Domingensis

Notes

Publishing author : Bory & Chaub. Publication : Nouv. Fl. Pelop. 4. Name Status: Accepted Name . Latest taxonomic scrutiny: 15-Mar-2000

Place of publication: Syn. pl. 2(2):532. 1807

Name verified on 06-Oct-1994 by ARS Systematic Botanists. Last updated: 06-Feb-2004

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Typha

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 110 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus. Here are just 100 of them:

T. aequalis · T. aethiopica · T. albida · T. alekseevii · T. ambigua · T. americana · T. angustata · T. angustifolia (Cumbungi (Aboriginal - Aust)) · T. angustifolia eu-angustifolia · T. angustifolia muelleri · T. angustifolia var. brownii (Narrowleaf Cattail) · T. angustifolia var. spathacea · T. angustifolia var. virginica · T. angustifolium · T. argoviensis · T. augustifolia · T. australis (Cumbungi (Aboriginal - Aust)) · T. azerbaijanensis · T. baetulona · T. basedowii · T. bethulona · T. bracteata · T. brownii · T. bungeana · T. capensis (Common Bullrush (South Africa)) · T. caspica · T. changbaiensis · T. communis · T. crassa · T. daenatica · T. damiattica · T. davidiana · T. domingensis (Narrow-Leaved Cumbungi (Aust)) · T. domingensis var. eu-domingensis · T. dominguensis · T. ehrenbergii · T. elata · T. elatior · T. elephantina (Elephant´s Grass) · T. elliptica · T. elongata · T. engelmannii · T. essequeboensis · T. foveolata · T. glauca (White Cattail) · T. gracilis · T. grossheimii · T. hercynica · T. intermedia · T. japonica · T. javanica · T. joannis · T. juncifolia · T. kalatensis · T. latifolia (Broadleaf Cattail (Usa)) · T. latifolia eulatifolia · T. latifolia var. typica · T. latifolia var. Variegata (Variegated Cat Tail) · T. latifolia 'Variegata' · T. latissima · T. laxmanii · T. laxmanni · T. laxmannii (Narrow-Leaved European Cattail) · T. laxmannii var. davidiana · T. laxmannii var. turczaninovii · T. lesquereuxi · T. lugdunensis · T. macranthelia · T. major · T. maresii · T. martini · T. massette · T. maxima · T. media · T. minima (Dwarf Cattail Typha Minima) · T. minima var. gracilis · T. minor · T. minuta · T. muelleri (Edible-Rooted Cat´s Tail) · T. nana · T. orientalis (Broad-Leaved Cumbungi (Aust)) · T. pallida · T. palustris · T. pendula · T. persica · T. pontica · T. przewalskii · T. remotiuscula · T. salgirica · T. schimperi · T. shuttelvorthii · T. shuttleworthii (Shuttleworth´s Cattail) · T. sicula · T. sistanica · T. spathulaefolia · T. spiralis · T. stenophylla · T. subulata · T. tenuifolia · T. tichomirovii

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 19, 2007:

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. S. Galen Smith "Typhaceae". in Flora of North America Vol. 22. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. "Typha". in Flora of North America Vol. 22. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  3. "Typha domingensis". in Flora of North America Vol. 22. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  4. Mean = 443.560 meters (1,455.249 feet), Standard Deviation = 650.940 based on 788 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]
Last Revised: 7/2/2009