Cattails spring up tall, waving in wet, marshy habitats with their distinctive corndog-on-a-stick look. Like all plants, their purpose is to reproduce, or create more plants, to make sure they continue to survive year after year.
From growing in the right conditions to attracting pollinators in unique ways, plants have amazing survival skills. But do they have another purpose? Can they be used for anything else? Let’s take a closer look at cattails and find out.
Cattails like to have wet feet! Meaning they grow in wet places, so their roots stay underwater. They can grow in water even 2 feet deep. That would be like walking around in water over your knees! They aren’t picky about the water either. Fresh and clear or mucky and brackish (somewhat salty) — cattails don’t mind as long as the ground stays soggy.
Cattails flower from May to July, but you have to get up close for a look because their flowers don’t have petals. Each plant has male and female flower parts on the spike at the top. The upper, narrow area has the male parts. The lower, wider area has the female parts. You can only see both in the spring. After that the male parts shed pollen that lands on the female parts below. If all goes as planned, by early fall you’ll see that signature, corndog-looking brown cylinder made up of pollinated flower heads get bigger. They eventually pop, spreading the seeds.
Between the wind blowing the seeds far and wide like dandelions and the water drifting them farther like coconuts floating through mangroves, new plants can spread easily.
Words to know
Antiseptic: Relating or denoting substances that prevent the growth of disease-causing microorganisms.
Brackish: Slightly salty water from the mixture of fresh water and salt water.
Rhizome: A continuously growing horizontal underground stem.
But what if something goes wrong and pollination doesn’t happen? Or the seed heads are removed before the seeds can fall? No problem. Cattails don’t take any chances on successful reproduction. They also have rhizomes, or special underground stems. Rhizomes grow sideways underground. New shoots can pop up along the rhizomes. Roots grow from beneath. So cattails can spread like a mat, far and wide. In fact, a football field-sized area filled with cattails may only be a few plants underground with many shoots above. Other plants like mayapples spread by rhizomes too.
Humans also work hard to survive. From the beginning of time, we needed to find food, shelter, water and each other. Cattails fit the bill. You can eat them from their tips to the roots (but ask a knowledgeable grownup before trying). But that’s not all!
Leaves
Cattails leaves are water-repellant thanks to their waxy outer coating. It makes sense, otherwise they could rot living in water. Think about flowers in a vase. Eventually the stems underwater get slimy and start to rot and fall apart. That’s because most flowers haven’t adapted to live underwater like cattails have.
Leaves can be split and twisted to make string. That string can be as thin as the threads in your clothing or as thick as a jump rope. What would you weave with cattail threads? A bracelet? A basket? The waxy coating will help make your creation water-resistant and last longer.
Fresh leaves have cooling gel inside, like aloe. This gel can be used as an antiseptic on wounds, which is great since you’ll likely get small cuts, like paper cuts, splitting the sharp leaves! The leaves cause the problem, but also provide the cure!
Tops
Dip those brown, corndog tops in oil and add a flame to make torches to light the way or brighten an area. Not only will they burn fairly slowly, they will have their own long pole to hold or stick in the ground!
Seeds
Cattail seeds are attached to a bit of fluff, like milkweed seeds. Before they get carried off by wind or water, use them as kindling to start a fire. Just make sure to use dry seeds.
The soft fluff can also be used as padding. What would you fill? A cushion? A stuffed animal? It’s also very insulating, so it can keep you warm. Stuff a quilt or the lining of a jacket and stay toasty warm on cool nights.
Though cattails have many uses, please make sure to only harvest with permission. Remember that plants cannot be removed from forest preserves. Also, make sure an adult is supervising any projects or recipes you may want to try.
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