Bernice Bjornson had this this to say about Typha in 1946:

“Our only genus of this family, Typha, is the familiar swamp plant we know as cattail.  Typha latifolia grows in swampy places, and in the irrigated portions of Idaho is often found in the swamps along the roadsides and at the border of fields.  The lower (brown) portion of the spike is made up of pistillate flowers (seed producing), the staminate flowers (pollen bearing) being just above. Though we use this plant only for decoration, the Indians used to make use of its leaves for matting and its underground stems which are rich in starch for food.”