Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The cattail; any plant of the genus Typha, chiefly T. latifolia and T. angustifolia, the great and the lesser reed-mace, the two species known in England and North America.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Bot.) The cat-tail.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun tall marsh plant with cylindrical seed heads that explode when mature shedding large quantities of down; its long flat leaves are used for making mats and chair seats; of North America, Europe, Asia and North Africa
- noun tall marsh plant with cylindrical seed heads that explode when mature shedding large quantities of down; its long flat leaves are used for making mats and chair seats; of North America, Europe, Asia and North Africa
Etymologies
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Examples
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The dominant vegetation, covering two thirds of the reserve and forming a thick barrier around the lake, is the reed community Phragmites australis with lesser and greater reed-mace Typha angustifolia and T. latifolia and Schoenoplectus spp.
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A few of the streams were full of the fine plant which is popularly known by the name of bull-rush, or bulrush (_Typha latifólia_), but which ought by rights to be called the "cat's-tail" or "reed-mace."
The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. VIII, No. 355, October 16, 1886 Various
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The children plunged their burning feet with joy in the damp sand overgrown with tufted horse-tails and the reed-mace with its slender lance.
Honey-Bee 1911 Anatole France 1884
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And he nodded in the direction of a patch of the tall, brown, poker-like flowers and leaves of the reed-mace.
Dick o' the Fens A Tale of the Great East Swamp George Manville Fenn 1870
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There were places where it might be possible for a tunnel to run down into the water, shady spots where willows and alders overhung the lake; places where birch and hazels grew close up to the patches of rushes and reed-mace, with its tall broken pokers standing high above the waving leaves.
Crown and Sceptre A West Country Story George Manville Fenn 1870
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Ere Owen and Robert had helped the other two ladies to land in a more rational manner, she was shaking her mischievous head at a window, and thrusting in her sceptral reed-mace.
Hopes and Fears or, scenes from the life of a spinster Charlotte Mary Yonge 1862
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Typha latifolia* (common cat-tail or reed-mace), extremely abundant between Bangor and Portland.
The Maine Woods 1858
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Occasionally the gigantic reed-mace (_Typha elephantina_) is seen, and tufts of tall reeds (_Arundo_).]
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