96 



SCHELXHZERIACEAE 



Family 7. SCHEUCHZERIACEAE. 

 Arrow-grass Family. 



Marsh herbs with rush-like leaves and small spicate or racemose perfect flowers. 

 Perianth 4-6-partecl, its segments in two series, persistent or deciduous. Stamens 

 3-6, with elongated or short filaments and mostly 2-celled extrorse anthers. Car- 

 pels 3-6, 1-2-ovuled. more or less united until maturity, dehiscent or indehiscent. 

 Seeds anatropous. Embryo straight. 



A family of 3 genera, and about 14 species, of wide geographic distribution. 

 Flowers numerous in spike-like racemes terminating scapes; leaves all basal. 1. Triglochin. 



Flowers few in a loose raceme; leaves cauiine. 2. Scheuchseria. 



1. TRIGLOCHIN L. Sp. PI. 2>?>^. 1753. 



Marsh plants with radical semiterete fleshy leaves, which have membranous sheaths at 

 the base. Plowers small, perfect in spikes or racemes, on long smooth naked scapes. 

 Perianth-segments 3-6, concave, the 3 inner inserted higher up than the others when 

 present. Stamens 3-6; anthers 2-celled, extrorse, sessile or nearly so. inserted at the base of 

 the segments and deciduous with them. Ovaries 6, united or rarely free, 1-celled; style short; 

 stigmas as many' as ovaries, plumose. Fruit of 3-6 oblong or ovoid carpels, when ripe sep- 

 arating from the base upward from a persistent central axis, dehiscing by a ventral suture. 

 (Greek, referring to the fruit of the 3-carpeled species.) 



A genus of about 12 species, distributed over the temperate and subarctic zones of both hemispheres. 

 Type species, Triglochin pahistris L. 



Carpels 3. 



Fruit linear or clavate, tapering to a subulate base. 1. T. palustris. 



. ^ Fruit nearly globose. 2. T. striata. 



Carpels 6; fruit oblong or ovoid, obtuse at base. 3. T. maritima. 



1. Triglochin palustris L. 



Marsh Arrow-grass. 



Fig. 202. 



Triglochin palustris L. Sp. PI. 338. 1753. 



Rootstock short, oblique, with slender fugacious 

 stolons. Leaves linear, shorter than the scapes, 12-30 

 cm. long, tapering to a sharp tip ; ligule very short ; scapes 

 1 or 2, slender, striate, 2-6 dm. high ; racemes 12-30 cm. 

 long; pedicels capillary, in fruit 5-7 mm. long, appressed; 

 perianth-segments 6, greenish yellow; anthers 6, sessile; 

 pistil of 3 united carpels, 3-celled, 3-ovuled ; stigmas 

 sessile; fruit 6-7 mm. long, about 1.5 mm. thick, linear 

 or clavate, the ripe carpels separating from the axis and 

 hanging suspended from the apAx, the axis 3-winged. 



Growing in bogs and widely distributed over the subarctic and 

 cool-temperate regions of both hemispheres. On the Pacific Coast 

 found only at Colville. eastern Washington, in the Arid Transition 

 Zone. Type locality: Europe. 



2. Triglochin striata Ruiz & Pav. 



Three-ribbed Arrow-grass. 



Fig. 203. 



Triglochin striata Ruiz & Pav. Fl. Per. 3: 72. 1802. 

 Triglochin triandra Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 1: 208. 1803. 



Rootstocks upright or oblique. Scapes 1 or 2, more 

 or less angular, usually not over 20 cm. high ; leaves 

 slender, slightly fleshy, nearly as long or longer than 

 the scapes, 2 mm. or less wide ; racemes 3-12 cm. long, 

 spicate ; pedicels 1-2 mm. long, not elongating in fruit, 

 spreading; perianth-segments 3, greenish yellow; sta- 

 mens 3 ; anthers oval ; pistil of 3 united carpels ; fruit 

 subglobose or somewhat obovoid, about 2 mm. in dia- 

 meter, appearing 3-winged when dry by the contracting 

 of the carpels ; carpels coriaceous, rounded and 3-ribbed 

 on the back; axis broadly 3-winged. 



In saline marshes, along the coast from Maryland to Louisiana, 

 and in California; also in Mexico and South America. In Cali- 

 fornia this species has been found at Santa Cruz, Monterey, and 

 Santa Barbara. Austral Zones. Type locality: .Surco, Peru. 



