It turns out a particular temperature and humidity awakens cattails to open up in an explosion of fluff. Today, it hit those perfect conditions. We’d had this cattail on a bookshelf since our second visit to Yellowstone a couple of years ago with Jutta, and seeing it was dried out and maintaining the state of looking like a regular old cattail, we never considered that this could happen. When it does finally send off its dormant seeds in waiting, the ensuing mess nearly creates panic to get it out of where it is because the fluff floats around effortlessly on its trek to go everywhere.