BULLETIN 



OF THE 



TORREY BOTANICAL CLUB 



Vol. XV.] New York, January 5, 1888. [No. I. 



Studies in the Typhacese. 



By Thomas Morong. * 



I. — Typha. 



Typh 



broken descent from Tournefort. First collectively named 



J 



by Agardh, and finally Ty- 



phacese by De Candolle, they are divided by Bentham and 

 Hooker into the two tribes, Typhese and Sparganiacese, each rep- 

 resented by a single genus. 



Typha is more nearly related to the Aroidese than its congener 

 Sparganiiim, because it possesses organs which represent both 

 spadix and spathe. If the inflorescence is gathered when young, 

 it will be found that the spikes are wrapped in a membranaceous 

 sheath attached to their base and rising above the summit in a 

 leaf-like blade. This is commonly called a bract, but in reahty 

 it is a spathe or answers the purpose of one to the young spikes. 

 It encloses several thinner sheaths, one for each spike, and gen- 

 erally two or three others which spring at intervals from differ- 

 ent points in the spikes, as though these were made up of succes- 

 sive joints. To be seen at all, the bracts must be taken in the 

 early anthesis, as they are caducous, and wither and fall off even 

 before the anthers are ready to shed their pollen. This habit of 

 Typha in separating its spikes 



I in separating its spikes into several partitions by the in- 

 tervention of bracts, shows a curious relationship between it and 

 Sparganiwn. In the latter the process has gone farther, and 

 there is a distinct separation of the spikes into small heads, some 



. * Special thanks are due to the botanists to whose courtesy I am indebted for 

 much of the material used in the preparation of these papers. Dr. Gray and Dr. 

 Watson, of Cambridge, have rendered invaluable aid in friendly counsel and encour- 

 agement, and in permitting the free use of the Harvard Herb, and botanical library, 

 lam also much indebted for the loan of specimens to Dr. N. L. Brltton, Mr. W. M. 

 Canby, Prof. E. L. Greene and Prof. John Macoun. 



