VALUE AND USE
SPECIES: Typha latifolia | Common Cattail 



WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE : 
NO-ENTRY


IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE : 
Common cattail is generally considered a poor livestock and big game
forage [8].  These animals rarely graze common cattail unless upland
forage becomes scarce [17].

Common cattail rhizomes and basal portions are an important food of
muskrat, nutria, and geese [26,29,30].  For ducks, however, common
cattail is of little value as food or cover.  It is considered an
undesirable weed in marshes managed primarily for ducks [3,24].  The
seeds are too small to be an important bird food source, but are eaten
by a few species, mainly the green-winged teal, semipalmated sandpiper,
and Canada goose, snow goose, and tule goose [30].


PALATABILITY : 
The palatability of common cattail foliage is low for wild ungulates and
livestock [8].  The starchy rhizomes and root stocks are palatable to
geese, muskrat, and nutria [26,29].  


NUTRITIONAL VALUE : 
Common cattail's forage value is highest in the early spring, when
protein content may reach 15 percent of dry weight.  However, its forage
quality declines rapidly, and by summer it is usually a poor source of
energy and protein [8,40].


COVER VALUE : 
The structure and density of common cattail stands affect their
usefulness as waterfowl nesting cover.  Breeding ducks rarely nest in
dense cattail stands that cover vast expanses of marsh, but are attracted
to wetlands where open water and cattail cover are well interspersed
[19].  Murkin and others [31] reported that cattail cover for nesting
dabbling ducks was best when open water and common cattail stands
covered roughly equal areas.  These researchers found that the number of
nesting duck pairs increased greatly when large stands were cut in
checkerboard patterns to produce a 50:50 water-cover ratio.

Common cattail provides favored nesting sites for the red-winged
blackbird, yellow-headed blackbird, and marsh wren [26].  In the Horicon
Marsh in southeastern Wisconsin, hybrid cattail (T. X glauca) stands
were used extensively for nesting by the ruddy duck, redhead, sora,
Virginia rail, least and American bittern, and common gallinule [3].
Similarly, the ruddy duck and readhead were the principal duck species
nesting in common cattail marshes in Utah [7].

Common cattail provides an excellent hut building material for muskrat
[26].  Deer sometimes use common cattail for hiding cover [17].


VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES : 
NO-ENTRY


OTHER USES AND VALUES : 
Cattail leaves and stems have been used around the world as bedding,
thatching, and matting, and in the manufacture of baskets, boats and
rafts, shoes, ropes, and paper.  In recent years, cattail has been
proposed as a biomass crop for renewable energy [12,30].  Total biomass
in southeastern Wisconsin hybrid cattail (T. X glauca) stands reached 15
tons per acre (33.6 t/ha) [3].

Native Americans used common cattail as food.  Rhizomes were dried and
ground into flour or eaten as cooked vegetables; young stems were eaten
raw or cooked; and immature fruiting spikes were eaten after roasting
[12,17].  The leaves were woven for matting and the "soft down" from
ripe fruiting heads was used as padding and in diapers [30].


MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Common cattail is considered a weed on some irrigated agricultural lands
and in managed waterfowl production areas.  On agricultural lands it
invades irrigation canals, farm ponds, and drainage ditches, impeding
water flow and increasing siltation [12].  In marshes managed for
waterfowl, it often forms dense stands which provide poor nesting
habitat [24].  Control measures include:  (1) drawdown to reduce cattail
and allow the establishment of species preferred by waterfowl, (2)
cutting plants below the soil or water surface, (3) crushing, which
immediately opens up stands making the surface water available to ducks,
(4) spraying with herbicides, (5) burning [see Fire Management
Considerations], and (6) cutting, crushing, spraying, or burning in
combination with water level manipulation [3,12,22,32].  For best
results treatment should take place when carbohydrate reserves are at a
minimum.  This period, when common cattail is most susceptible to
injury, occurs when the pistillate and staminate portions of the spike
are lime green and dark green, respectively [3].  Furthermore, because a
portion of cattail leaves must protrude above the water surface for
normal gas exchange to take place, regrowth following control measures
is effectively eliminated if plants are kept completely submerged
[3,12].  On marshes where water levels can be manipulated, a combination
of drawdown followed by the control treatment and rapid reflooding
results in the greatest cattail mortality.

Because of increased mobility on ice, winter cutting or burning in
northern latitudes is a cost-effective method to remove accumulated
litter and thin stands [1].  Farm machinery that could cut cattail but
would be difficult to use in marshy habitats can be used on the ice
during the winter.

Related categories for Species: Typha latifolia | Common Cattail