Synonymy

Typha angustifolia reedswamp Pallis 1911; Typhetum angustifoliae Tansley 1939; Typhetum angustifoliolatifoliae (Eggler 1933) Schmale 1939 p.p.; Scirpeto-Phragmitetum medioeuropaeum (Koch 1926) R.Tx. 1941 p.p.; Scirpetum lacustris Chouard 1924 sensu Passarge 1964 p.p.; Typha angustifolia society Wheeler 1978; Typha angustifolia emergent stands Meres Survey 1980.

Constant species

Typha angustifolia.

Rare species

Elatine hexandra, E. hydropiper.

Physiognomy

The Typhetum angustifoliae is almost always dominated by T. angustifolia which forms an open or closed canopy of gregarious stout shoots usually about 2 m tall. Although the community has been recorded as a floating marginal mat (e.g. Sinker 1962), the rhizomes seem normally to be buried in the topmost layers of substrate: Lambert (1951) rarely encountered floating stands along the Bure and these seemed to be less vigorous than firmly anchored vegetation and to have perhaps originated by interference. In Broadland, T. angustifolia has been shown to attain a maximum shoot density rapidly, within a month of shoot emergence in April, with a subsequent decline due to self-thinning and an increase in size of the survivors. Dead shoots were observed to stand for up to two years, although most had collapsed within a year of death (Mason & Bryant 1975).

Stands are often pure, rarely rich in species and show little consistency in associates. Other reedswamp dominants such as P. australis, T. latifolia and Glyceria maxima may be locally prominent and there are sometimes scattered sprawls of Solanum dulcamara and Calystegia sepium, clumps of tall herbs such as Phalaris arundinacea and Epilobium hirsutum and occasionally small emergents such as Mentha aquatica and Alisma plantago-aquatica. Rooted and free-floating aquatics may gain a hold between the stools or persist along the advancing outer margins of stands. Lemna minor and L. trisulca may be abundant here with Polygonum amphibium, Potamogeton natans, P. pectinatus, Elodea canadensis and Myriophyllum spicatum. The rare waterworts, Elatine hexandra and E. hydropiper, have been recorded in the community as submerged mats or sprawls on damp silt.

Habitat

The community is characteristically found in standing or slow-moving, neutral to basic, lowland waters with silty substrates, around the margins of lakes and ponds and in dykes. This is very much the same habitat type as that of the Typhetum latifoliae but the two dominants seem rarely to occur together and T. angustifolia is perhaps more tolerant of less eutrophic conditions than is T. latifolia.