Editing Typha (section)

==Description==
''Typha'' are aquatic or semi-aquatic, rhizomatous, herbaceous [[perennial plant]]s.<ref name=Stace>{{cite book|last=Stace|first=C. A.|author-link = Stace, C. A.|year=2010|title=New Flora of the British Isles|edition=Third|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location = Cambridge, U.K.| isbn=9780521707725}}</ref>{{rp|925}} The leaves are [[Glossary of botanical terms#glabrous|glabrous]] (hairless), linear, alternate and mostly basal on a simple, jointless stem that bears the flowering spikes. The plants are [[monoecious]], with  [[unisexual]] flowers that develop in dense [[raceme]]s. The numerous male flowers form a narrow spike at the top of the vertical stem. Each male (staminate) flower is reduced to a pair of [[stamen]]s and hairs, and withers once the [[pollen]] is shed. Large numbers of tiny female flowers form a dense, [[sausage]]-shaped spike on the stem below the male spike. In larger species this can be up to {{Convert|30|cm|in|sigfig=2}} long and {{Convert|1|to|4|cm|in|sigfig=1}} thick. The seeds are minute, {{Convert|0.2|mm|in|sigfig=1}} long, and attached to fine hairs.  When ripe, the heads disintegrate into a cottony fluff from which the seeds [[wind dispersal|disperse by wind]].

Fruits of ''Typha'' have been found as long ago as 69 [[million years ago|MYA]] in modern Central Europe.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bremer |first=Kåre |date=2000-04-04 |title=Early Cretaceous lineages of monocot flowering plants |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=97 |issue=9 |pages=4707–4711 |doi=10.1073/pnas.080421597 |pmid=10759567 |issn=0027-8424|pmc=18297 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2000PNAS...97.4707B }}</ref>