Cattails are a repeated and a usual marsh plant . They ’re easy placeable by their long , flimsy leaf and distinctive cattail tops , which are brown bleary cylinders six to 12 inch in duration . The cattail goes through four distinct level in its life cycle .

Rhizomes

Throughout the wintertime and into early spring , cattail exist mostly as rhizomes , which are genus Tuber - similar root parts that live underground . Cattails reproduce by growing and spreading rhizomes through the summertime . If you require to plant or re - plant life cattail , dig rootstalk in early spring , before they have begin to put out new shoot .

Young Shoots

In early to mid - spring , cattail begin to acquire Modern leaves . The long , savorless leave-taking resemble daffodil or iris leaf , and may be false for them in the early stages of ontogenesis . Cattail leaves soon become distinctive , however , by their duration , growing anywhere from three to nine feet foresighted .

Although rootstock can still be transplanted once young shoot have appear , they place upright a better chance of survival in their new home if transplanted before the vernal shoot come along .

Flowers

Cattails are hermaphrodite , meaning that the male and female plant parts grow on the same plant . On a cattail , they also grow on the same stalk . During summertime flowering time of year , a cattail puts out a distaff flower part , which is a brownish blurry piston chamber about six to 12 inch long and about an inch in diameter .

Immediately above the fuzzy cattail , the plant grows a three- to six - inch stalk cover in diminutive brownish flowerets . This is the male part of the plant . During the reproductive time of year in mid - summertime , the male parts shed big sum of money of halcyon pollen . finally , the flowerets dry up and fall off . A cattail works has lost most of the diminutive flowerets by mid- to recent summer .

Seeds

As the manly flowerets conk off , the distaff part of the cattail begins to produce seed , each of which is get in touch to a number of white fluff to permit it to travel more well on the jazz . Cattails give rise seeds in recent summer and early crepuscule . A single cattail plant may produce as many as 250,000 seeds in a season . The source are democratic solid food for a number of migrate marsh birds , including merl .

Although it is possible to start cattail plants from seed , it is substantially easier to start them from rhizomes . If planting seeds , plant life in other spring , after the priming coat has thawed .

Overwintering

In late fall and wintertime , the cattail ’s leaves and flowers snuff it off , although they frequently remain stand in swamps and sloughy area . The cattail hibernates in its rhizome throughout the winter . The good time to dig rhizomes is after the plant life has die off and before the ground freezes in winter , or after it thaws in other outflow . Rhizomes dug in wintertime can be store until spring . Place rhizomes in a paper bag and depot in a fairly cool , stable temperature such as in a cellar or larder .

References

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