The following blog was written by one of the digitiser’s in the Herbarium.

Since 2021 we have increased our digitisation capacity reaching 1 million specimens imaged in August 2024. Each digitiser is assigned a family of plants to work through. This series of blogs will spotlight the families that have been completed by a member of the team.

Typhaceae more commonly known as the cattail & bur-reed family, can be found on every continent except Antarctica. 

Made up of two genera, Typha and Sparganium, with a total of 51 species. Sparganium is a more recent addition to the family and was added in 2009.  

The genus Typha is the cattail. The ‘tail’ or spike typically breaks open in late autumn. The seeds ‘explode’ and can travel several miles on a light breeze. A single cattail head can contain up to 250,000 seeds. Each one attached to a tiny, fluffy coma. 

Sparganium on the other hand doesn’t have the iconic ‘cattail’ shape of Typha but instead has a spiky flower head, that looks more like a medieval mace.

Our Collections

There are a total of 1178 specimens in RBGE’s Herbarium. Prior to digitisation of the collection, just over 53% were imaged, a total 626 specimens.  

Despite the size of the family and RBGE’s small holdings, the Herbarium houses 3 type specimens 

Specimens of Typhaceae can be viewed here.

Top 5 regions

No. of Specimens	Herbarium Filing Region
413	Britain and Ireland
292	Europe, excl. Britain and Ireland
142	North America
110	West Asia
45	Inner Chine, Korea and Taiwan

Top Genera

The two genera have a near 60/40 split: Typha makes up about 63% of RBGE’s holdings and Sparaganium makes up nearly 37%. 

No. of Specimens	Genus
741	Typha
437	Sparagainum