Lesser Bulrush - Typha angustifolia

A tall plant to 2 or 3 metres. It has very narrow leaves compared to the Common Bulrush (Typha latifolia), and the stems are topped by smooth cigar shaped light brown spikes. The male part above is usually separated from the female by a gap on the stem.

Typha latifolia

Narrow leaves, male (above) and female (below) flowers separated by bare section of stem

Along the margins of rivers, canals, lakes and ponds.

Flowers June and July though the spikes will persist into late autumn or beyond.

Perennial.

Widespread in much of Britain except the far north.

Local in Leicestershire and Rutland. It is fairly frequent on the margins of the Grand Union Canal, but otherwise is found only around the margins of small ponds in various places. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 26 of the 617 tetrads.