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Cattail🌾
Typha latifolia
ガマ
A quintessential wetland plant. A large perennial that produces sausage-shaped brown flower spikes in summer. The upper portion is the male inflorescence and the lower portion is the female inflorescence. Featured in the Japanese myth of the White Rabbit of Inaba. The dispersal of cottony seeds is also distinctive.
Identification Points
- ✓Sausage-shaped brown flower spike (cattail)
- ✓Upper portion is the male inflorescence (yellow pollen), lower portion is the female (brown)
- ✓Leaves are long, flat, and rigid (1-2 cm wide)
- ✓Forms large colonies in wetlands and waterside areas
Habitat
Ponds, marshes, wetlands, river margins
Season
July to August (flowers)
Morphological TraitsAI-estimated, needs verification
Leaf arrangement
Alternate
Leaf type
Simple
Venation
Parallel
Leaf margin
Entire
Leaf shape
Linear
Growth form
Herb
Habitat
Wetland
Petal fusion
Free
Leaf dissection
Undivided
Ovary position
Superior
Plant sex
Monoecious
Phylogenetic Positionガマ科 →
Phylogenetic Position
Angiosperms > Monocots > Commelinids > Poales > Typhaceae
Divergence Era
Late Cretaceous to Paleogene
Sources & References
AI-generated, needs verification