BROAD-LEAVED CAT-TAIL 



reached full size and maturity have a commercial 

 value for filling the seams of casks and barrels and 

 are cut and cured for that purpose. 



When one cuts the spike across, the most one sees 

 is a thick mass of soft brownish hairs, black at the 

 tips and paler toward the inner central stalk. When 

 the seeds are mature the Cat-tail down puffs out from 

 the stem. There seems to be an elastic spring to the 

 fine threads of the down, for when relieved of pressure 

 they open into tiny parachutes to carry the seed afar. 

 When birds or the wind have made an opening, the 

 fluffy mass pours forth; one often sees beds of Cat- 

 tail stalks which have lost all their trim cylindrical 

 form and are shapeless masses of brownish down. A 

 dwarf species, Typha angustifolia, is often found grow- 

 ing with the larger form. 



