any of a genus (Typha) of the cattail family with reedlike leaves and long, brown, fuzzy, cylindrical flower spikes; esp., either of two species (T. latifolia and T. angustifolia) whose long, flat leaves are used in making baskets and matting
the plant family Cyperaceae, characterized by herbaceous plants, often found in wet areas, having solid stems, narrow, grasslike leaves with closed sheaths, spikes of very small flowers set in a scalelike bract, and a dry, flattened, convex fruit, and including the bulrush, chufa, cotton grass, papyrus, and umbrella plant.
