''Typha domingensis'', known commonly as southern cattail or cumbungi, is a

perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...

herbaceous plant of the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

Typha ''Typha'' is a genus of about 30 species of monocotyledonous flowering plants in the family Typhaceae. These plants have a variety of common names, in British English as bulrushStreeter D, Hart-Davies C, Hardcastle A, Cole F, Harper L. 2009. ' ...

''.

Distribution and habitat

It is found throughout

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (approximately 23.5° to 66.5° N/S of the Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ran ...

and

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

regions worldwide. It is sometimes found as a subdominant associate in mangrove ecosystems such as the Petenes mangroves ecoregion of Yucatán.World Wildlife Fund. Eds. M. McGinley, C. M. Hogan, & C. Cleveland. 2010
''Petenes mangroves''.
Encyclopedia of Earth. National Council for Science and the Environment. Washington, DC.

Uses

In the Mesopotamian Marshes of southern

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

, Khirret is a dessert made from the pollen of this plant. In Turkish

folk medicine Traditional medicine (also known as indigenous medicine or folk medicine) refers to the knowledge, skills, and practices rooted in the cultural beliefs of various societies, especially Indigenous groups, used for maintaining health and treatin ...

the female

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

s of this plant and other ''Typha'' are used externally to treat wounds such as burns. Extracts of ''T. domingensis'' have been demonstrated to have wound healing properties in rat models.Akkol, E. K., et al. (2011)
The potential role of female flowers inflorescence of ''Typha domingensis'' Pers. in wound management.
''Journal of Ethnopharmacology'' 133(3) 1027-32. Water extracts of the fruit, female flower and male flower of ''Typha domingensis'' exhibit iron chelating activity as well as

superoxide In chemistry, a superoxide is a compound that contains the superoxide ion, which has the chemical formula . The systematic name of the anion is dioxide(1−). The reactive oxygen ion superoxide is particularly important as the product of t ...

and nitric oxide scavenging activities. By contrast, only the fruit and female flower extracts were found to have alpha-glucosidase inhibitory activity.Chai TT, Mohan M, Ong HC, Wong FC (2014
Antioxidant, iron-chelating and anti-glucosidase activities of ''Typha domingensis'' Pers. (Typhaceae)
Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research 13(1): 67-72. A partially purified, proanthocyanidin-rich butanol fraction of the fruit was shown to be a competitive inhibitor of alpha-glucosidase, which also had concurrent antioxidant activity. Recently it was found that ''Typha domingensis'' is very effective at reducing bacterial contamination of water for agricultural use. This plant helps to reduce, up to 98 percent, pollution by enterobacteria (usually found in the intestines of mammals) involved in the development of disease.Common weed revealed to diminish water pollution
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Usage in Mexico

The Southern Cattail grows between 2.0 and 2.5 meters in length and has flat sheaths to protect its core. It thrives in

marsh In ecology, a marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous plants rather than by woody plants.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p More in genera ...

es and ecosystems where the land has a similarity to

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

s. It can also survive in high salinity water sources, making it much more resilient than similar species to this kind of cattail. The Southern Cattail originated in the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is List of regions of the United States, census regions defined by the United States Cens ...

, and transitioned its way to other ecosystems from

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

through human intervention. In Mexico, this invasive species has proven to be beneficial to local ecosystems rather than a nuisance to it. Aside from being a filter for some of the water's quality, the surrounding villages that dwell within the circumference of the lake benefit from both the Southern Cattail and its similar species, the Southern Bulrush, by its ability to be used in artisanal crafts and due to their wider reed sheaths which eased the

weaving Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. Other methods are knitting, crocheting, felting, and braiding or plaiting. The longitudinal ...

process. Areas where the cattail and bulrush is harvested in much larger methods, such as the coastal areas of San Jeronimo, Patzcuaro and Tzintzuntzan, Michoacán seem to exhibit larger than average cattail sizes, lengths, and population density. It's within these areas that at times, the amount of reproducing cattail can prove to be too much as it overruns some farm land, so its planned from the surrounding villagers to be routinely harvested and cut down to a reasonable size monthly or whenever the population rises to an overrunning size. This is especially common during the months of August and September, the rainiest months that the surrounding villages seem to experience during the last months of

Summer Summer or summertime is the hottest and brightest of the four temperate seasons, occurring after spring and before autumn. At or centred on the summer solstice, daylight hours are the longest and darkness hours are the shortest, with day ...

. With such a large density, this also proves to be beneficial to the surrounding organisms which live near the lake such as the Lake Patzcuaro Garter Snake, which thrives near the cattail closest to the lake. Creating a thick shade for the snakes, they also make this an area to not only reproduce but also protect their young which can protect against other predators which surround the lake such as the hawk species of the Red-Tailed Hawk and occasional larger snake species which also thrives within the lake. With all these benefits that it gives to the ecosystem, the largest benefit this species has provided was the reduction of the water's pollution from external sources. When some water containing animal fecal matter was placed in the same water as the cattail species in an experiment done within the Helmholtz center in Germany with support from the National Council of Science and Technology in Mexico, it was discovered to have filtered around 98% of the bacteria found within the water. This discovery showed that this invasive species had the potential to reduce the biological impact these bacteria could have not only on the surrounding animals, but also surrounding humans which have used the lake as their main source of water for generations.

References

External links

Flora of North America
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2748383 domingensis Flora of Northern America Flora of Australia Flora of Africa Flora of Europe Flora of temperate Asia Flora of tropical Asia Aquatic plants Plants described in 1807 Medicinal plants