Typhaceae

Long, flat, strap-like leaves rising from a spreading rhizome in shallow water or marsh; tiny, tightly packed male and female flowers stack into two distinct sections along the same cylindrical spike, the male section above shedding pollen and withering while the female section below thickens into the familiar velvety brown cattail head.

The dense, velvety brown 'cattail' familiar from wetlands is entirely made of female flowers packed onto the lower half of the spike, releasing a cloud of cottony, wind-borne seeds when it eventually breaks apart.

To check whether a plant belongs to Typhaceae, compare the leaf arrangement, leaf type, flower symmetry, fruit type, and one distinctive marker together. A single feature can mislead; the family pattern is the combination.