Grass or grass-like · Cyperaceae
Cattail sedge
Carex typhina
Cattail sedge is recorded as native to 28 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 340 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Cattail sedge at a glance
- Native in
- 340 counties, across 28 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4b PLANTS minimum temperature −28°F
- Mature height
- 2 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Tolerates shade High water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 4b. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −28°F; zone 4b winters bottom out at −25°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Cattail sedge is recorded as native to 28 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 340 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 340 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Arkansas 9 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 3 counties
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Georgia 3 counties
- Illinois 34 counties
- Indiana 21 counties
- Kentucky 27 counties
- Louisiana 10 counties
- Maine 1 county
- Maryland 13 counties
- Massachusetts 7 counties
- Michigan 4 counties
- Minnesota 5 counties
- Mississippi 3 counties
- Missouri 28 counties
- New Jersey 10 counties
- New York 18 counties
- North Carolina 28 counties
- Ohio 16 counties
- Pennsylvania 10 counties
- South Carolina 10 counties
- Tennessee 18 counties
- Texas 7 counties
- Vermont 3 counties
- Virginia 26 counties
- West Virginia 6 counties
- Wisconsin 19 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Graminoid
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 2 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Bunch
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Long
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Tolerant (tolerates shade)
- Moisture use
- High water use
- Drought tolerance
- None
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- High
- Precipitation range
- 32 to 55 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Medium and fine
- pH range
- 5.7 to 7
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 8 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −28°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4b and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 90
- Fire tolerance
- High
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Green
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Mid Spring
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Cyperaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- CATY
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Carex typhina (PLANTS symbol CATY).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources