Typha latifolia

What to Eat

Edible parts: Shoots, Leaves, Seeds, Root, Rhizome, Stems, Flowers, Pollen

Roots can be eaten raw or cooked — boil them like potatoes or macerate and boil to produce a sweet syrup. They can also be dried and ground into a protein-rich powder that mixes well with wheat flour for making bread, biscuits, and muffins. One hectare of plants can yield 8 tonnes of flour from the rootstock. Roots are richest in starch from late autumn to early spring and contain around 80% carbohydrate (30–46% starch) and 6–8% protein. Young spring shoots are eaten raw or cooked as an asparagus substitute with a cucumber-like flavour; they remain usable up to 50cm long. The base of the mature stem is edible raw or cooked with the outer layer removed — this part is traditionally called 'Cossack asparagus'. The immature flowering spike can be eaten raw, cooked, or made into soup and tastes like sweet corn. Seeds are small and fiddly but have a pleasant nutty flavour when roasted and can be ground into flour for cakes; an edible oil is also obtained from the seed, though the small seed size limits its practical value. Pollen serves as a protein-rich flour additive for bread and porridge, or can be eaten with the young flowers for ease of use. To harvest pollen, hold the flowering stem over a wide, shallow container and gently tap and brush it free; this also aids pollination to ensure future pollen and seed yields.

Known Hazards

Where to Find It

It grows in tropical and temperate places. Deccan. It grows in swamps. It needs rich silty soils and an open, sunny position. It is hardy to frost. It grows between sea level and 1,950 m above sea level. It can grow in salty soils. It grows in wetlands. It can grow in arid places. Tasmanian Herbarium. in Sichuan and Yunnan.

Afghanistan, Africa, Alaska, Arctic, Argentina, Asia, Australia, Balkans, Bosnia, Botswana, Brazil, Britain, Canada, Central Africa, Central America, Central Asia, China, Congo, Czech Republic, East Africa, Eswatini, Europe*, Gabon, Georgia, Guatemala, Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Lesotho, Libya, Luxembourg, Mediterranean, Mexico, Middle East, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, Nigeria, North Africa, North America, Norway, Pakistan, Paraguay, Russia, Scandinavia, Slovenia, South Africa, South America, Southern Africa, Swaziland, Syria, Tajikistan, Tasmania, Tibet, Turkmenistan, Uganda, USA, Uzbekistan, West Africa, Zimbabwe,

How to Identify

A herb. It is a reed which grows in water. They spread by underground rhizomes. The leaves are bluish-green and like straps. They can be 2-2.5 m long and 2.5 cm wide. The flower heads form a compact cylinder. This is 15-23 cm long and 2.5 cm across. The upper part is male and yellow. The lower part is female and stays dark brown. These are not separated. The seeds have hairs attached to them.

Nutrition Score: 28/100

How to Grow

A very easily grown plant, succeeding in the boggy margins of ponds or in shallow water up to 15cm deep. It succeeds in acid and calcareous soils and requires a less organic-rich soil than T. angustifolia in order to do well. It succeeds in sun or part shade. A very invasive plant spreading freely at the roots when in a suitable site, it is not suitable for growing in small areas. Unless restrained by some means, such as a large bottomless container, the plant will soon completely take over a site and will grow into the pond, gradually filling it in. This species will often form an almost complete monoculture in boggy soil. Provides excellent cover for wild fowl.

Propagation: Surface sow seed in a pot stood in 3cm of water. Pot up seedlings as soon as possible and gradually increase the water depth as the plants develop. Plant out in summer. Division in spring is very easy — harvest young shoots when they are 10–30cm tall with some root attached and plant directly into permanent positions.

Medicinal Uses

The leaves are diuretic and have been mixed with oil and applied as a poultice on sores. The pollen is astringent, diuretic, emmenagogue, haemostatic, refrigerant, sedative, suppurative, and vulnerary. Dried pollen is said to be anticoagulant, but when roasted with charcoal it becomes haemostatic. Internally, pollen is used to treat kidney stones, haemorrhage, painful menstruation, abnormal uterine bleeding, post-partum pains, abscesses, and cancer of the lymphatic system. It should not be prescribed for pregnant women. Externally it is used in the treatment of tapeworms, diarrhoea, and injuries. A decoction of the stems has been used to treat whooping cough. The roots are diuretic, galactogogue, refrigerant, and tonic. Pounded to a jelly-like consistency, the roots are applied as a poultice to wounds, cuts, boils, sores, carbuncles, inflammations, burns, and scalds. The flowers are used to treat a wide range of ailments including abdominal pain, amenorrhoea, cystitis, dysuria, metrorrhagia, and vaginitis. Young flower heads eaten fresh are a treatment for diarrhoea. Seed down has been used as a dressing on burns and scalds.

Other Uses

Stems and leaves gathered in autumn make good thatching material, can be used in paper production, and woven into mats, chairs, and hats. They are a useful biomass resource for composting or fuel. The plant pulp can be converted into rayon. Stems can be made into rush lights: strip the outer skin leaving a narrow spine of about 10mm to keep the stem erect, then soak in oil and use like a candle. Female flowers make excellent tinder and can be lit from a flint spark. Fibre is obtained from both the blossom stem and flowers. Leaf fibre can also be used for papermaking — harvest leaves in summer, autumn, or winter, soak in water for 24 hours, cook the fibres for 2 hours with soda ash, then beat in a ball mill for 1½ hours to produce green or brown paper. Fruit hairs are used for stuffing pillows, providing good insulation and buoyancy; they have also been used as wound dressings and as lining for babies' nappies. Dried flowering stems are useful for insulation and also have good buoyancy properties. Pollen is highly flammable and is used in making fireworks.

Typha latifolia is a perennial herbaceous wetland plant in the genus Typha. It is known in English as bulrush (sometimes as common bulrush to distinguish from other species of Typha), and in North America as broadleaf cattail. It is found as a native plant species throughout most of Eurasia and North America, and more locally in Africa and South America. The genome of T. latifolia was published in 2022.

Other Information

The tender shoots are considered a delicacy. They are sold for banquets.

Notes

Chemical composition (root): Protein - 6%. Fat = 0.29%. Carbohydrate = 17.5% (including 15.4% starch). Ash = 2.54%. There are 10 Typha species.

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