Editing Typha (section)

===Other===
The seed hairs were used by some [[indigenous peoples of the Americas]]{{which|date=April 2017}} as [[tinder]] for starting fires. Some tribes also used ''Typha'' down to line [[moccasins]], and for bedding, diapers, baby powder, and [[cradleboard]]s. One Native American word for ''Typha'' meant "fruit for papoose's bed".{{citation needed|date=September 2022}} ''Typha'' down is still used in some areas to stuff clothing items and pillows. ''Typha'' can be dipped in wax or fat and then lit as a candle, the stem serving as a wick. Without the use of wax or fat it will smolder slowly, somewhat like [[incense]], and may repel insects. {{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

The flower stalks can be made into [[chopsticks]]. The leaves can be treated to weave into baskets, mats, or sandals.<ref name=Nyerges40/> The rushes are harvested and the leaves often dried for later use in chair seats.  Re-wetted, the leaves are twisted and wrapped around the chair rungs to form a densely woven seat that is then stuffed (usually with the left over rush).

Small-scale experiments have indicated that ''Typha'' are able to remove [[arsenic]] from drinking water.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Jackson |first1=Jeremiah |title=Removing Arsenic Sustainably |journal=Civil Engineering |date=April 2007 |pages=45–55}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Jackson |first1=Jeremiah |title=Treatment of Arsenic Contaminated Water Using Aquatic Macrophytes |journal=An International Perspective on Environment and Water Resources |date=December 18–20, 2006 |at=New Delhi, India |publisher=American Society of Civil Engineers, Environment and Water Resources |language=en}}</ref>
The boiled rootstocks have been used as a [[diuretic]] for increasing urination, or mashed to make a jelly-like paste for sores, boils, wounds, burns, scabs, and smallpox pustules.<ref>{{cite book|last=Maiden|first=J. H.|title=Useful Native Plants of Australia (incl. Tasmania)|year=1889|publisher=Technological Mus. New South Wales|location=Sydney}}</ref>

Cattail pollen is used as a banker source of food for predatory insects and mites (such as ''[[Amblyseius swirskii]]'') in greenhouses.<ref>{{cite web|title=Applying pollen over a crop as an alternative food source for predatory mites|date=January 20, 2015|author=Heidi Wollaeger|publisher=Michigan State University|url=http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/applying_pollen_over_a_crop_as_an_alternative_food_source_for_predatory_mit}}</ref>

The cattail, or, as it is commonly referred to in the American Midwest, the sausage tail, has been the subject of multiple artist renditions, gaining popularity in the mid-twentieth century. The term, sausage tail, derives from the similarity that cattails have with sausages, a name given to the plant by the Midwest Polish community, which had noticed a striking similarity between the plant and a common Polish dish, [[Kielbasa|kiełbasa]].{{cn|date=April 2025}}