Typha sp.

Cumbungi at O'Malley, ACT

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Identification history

Typha sp.	17 Mar 2017	MichaelMulvaney
Typha sp.	15 Mar 2017	BettyDonWood
Typha orientalis	14 Mar 2017	BettyDonWood
Typha domingensis	14 Mar 2017	Mike

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User's notes

Thin seedhead about 25cm long.

6 comments

BettyDonWood wrote:

15 Mar 2017

The chocolate brown female spike suggests orientalis. The female spike of domingensis is cinnamon brown. See https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/flora/key/2087

Mike wrote:

15 Mar 2017

I thought I had now been able to sort the two Typha spp. I haven't seen any comparisons of chocolate/chestnut/cinnamon that could be used for deciding which is which. The spike size matches the description in Burbidge 'Flora of the ACT' and the leaf sheath seems to match Fig 3 B1 of that book.

BettyDonWood wrote:

15 Mar 2017

Sorry, I meant chestnut brown. The colour comparison is exactly what Vicflora says.

michaelb wrote:

15 Mar 2017

It is worth noting that the colour changes with age.

Mike wrote:

15 Mar 2017

I have looked through several descriptions and the photos on Canberra Nature Map, and remain confused. Brown colours are often open to personal interpretation and while I could probably see the differnce between cinnamon-brown and chestnut-brown if I saw them together I don't easily relate them to a typha spike. These are mature spikes (see the seeds in the background) but I don't know if tthat makes them darker or lighter or redder or yellower.

BettyDonWood wrote:

15 Mar 2017

You and Michael have a lot more recent field experience of Typha than I. If you do not think spike colour is a reliable feature we are left with stigma shape, bract size, and the less reliable feature of the auricle on the leaf sheath (I presume at the base of the blade). None of those characters can be seen in the photos of this plant. In that case, perhaps Call it Typha sp.

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