Subclass 1. Monocotyledoneae 



Cotyledons usually solitary; embryonic radicle usually developing only to a 

 very limited extent, most of the roots being adventitious on the lower part of 

 the stem, resulting in a so-called fibrous root system; vascular strands of the 

 stem usually not in any cylindrical pattern, the stem-transection revealing a num- 

 ber of scattered strands; vascular strands (nerves, veins) of the leaves usually not 

 forming a network but parallel for most of their length; sepals, petals, stamens and 

 carpels usually in multiples of three, but many exceptions. 



Plants with long, narrow leaves such as grasses, sedges and lilies are charac- 

 teristic of this subclass; but such bizarre plants as palms, yuccas and century 

 plants also belong here. About 50,000 species, roughly a fourth of all angiosperms, 

 fall into this group. 



Fam. 13. Typhaceae Juss. Cat-tail Family 



Aquatic or paludal monoecious perennial herbs with a creeping rhizome and 

 distichously arranged erect leaves; leaves sessile, linear, nerved, glabrous, sheath- 

 ing the base of the simple jointless stems; flowers unisexual, in a long dense 

 cylindrical spike terminating the stem, without proper floral envelopes; staminate 

 flowers forming the upper portion of the spike, consisting of stamens inserted 

 directly on the axis and intermixed with long hairs or slender bracts; pistillate 

 flowers forming the lower portion of the spike, consisting of stipitate 1 -celled 

 fertile or abortive ovaries with their stipes provided with ascending or spreading 

 slenderly clavellate bristles that form the copious down of the fruit; ovary 1 -celled 

 and I-ovuled, with usually persistent linear style and elongated 1 -sided linear or 

 linear-lanceolate stigma; fruit a long-stalked minute nutlet; seed suspended, 

 anatropous. 



A solitary genus. 



1. Typha L. Cat-tail 



Characters of the family. About 15 species of worldwide distribution. 



The stalks, thick rootstocks and roots are important foods for muskrats and 

 beaver. The rootstocks and, in some instances, the minute seeds are known to 

 be eaten by geese and teal. The thick shelter and nesting cover afforded and the 

 insects supported by these plants attract marsh birds, wildfowl and song birds. 

 The plants also provide shelter for young fish and a spawning ground for sunfish. 

 On the whole, however, these plants are considered as undesirable because they 

 often displace more desirable species and, uncontrolled, they can rapidly cover 



Fig. 25: Typha angustifoUa: a, swollen aborted ovary with rudimentary style, 

 X 20; b, sterile long-stipitate flower with terminal aborted ovary, the hairs on stipe 

 in whorls, terminating in club-shaped or ligulate tips, X 8; c. young spike, showing 

 area of separation between staminate spikes (above) and pistillate spikes (below), 

 X %; d, single compound pedicel of pistillate spike, X 40; e, group of compound 

 pedicels, appearing smooth, X 8; f, cluster of spatulate truncate bracts, with transi- 

 tional forms resembling abortive ovaries, occurring frequently among flowers, X 8; 

 g and h, upper part of plant, showing distichous leaf arrangement and young flower- 

 ing spikes, X %; i, cluster of young anthers surrounded by bracts, filament not yet 

 elongated, X 6; j-1, mature stamens, 2 to 6 anthers in a cluster sessile on a single 

 filament, X 6; m-o, staminate bracts — linear, simple, and forked types, X 6; p, 1 -celled 

 pollen grains; q, group of young fertile and sterile pistillate flowers, the pedicels not 

 yet elongate, X 12; r, swollen tip of pistillate bract, X 40; s, pistillate bracts, X 8; t, 

 auricle of sheath, X %; u and v, mature pistillate flowers with functional ovaries, 

 long styles and linear stigmas, the pedicels of varying length and surrounded by basal 

 hairs, X 8. (From Mason, Fig. 9). 



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