FIELD BOOK OF PONDS AND STREAMS 



the anther, which holds the pollen grains, and a stem-like 

 filament. Pollen grains are deposited upon the stigma of the 

 pistil by wind or by insects, or may simply fall upon it. 

 The process is known as pollination (Fig. 58). After a pollen 

 grain and an ovule come together, their nuclei fuse, the ovule 

 is fertilized and later develops into a seed. 



Cat-tails — TyphacecB 



Cat-tails are marsh and waterside plants, which grow 4 to 

 8 feet tall, with creeping root-stocks from which new plants 

 sprout up each spring. These root-stocks grow in all direc- 

 tions and in a few years each parent plant is the center of a 

 colony of cat-tails. Their banner-like leaves, even taller than 

 the flowers, are smooth olive-green, shimmering and silvery 

 when the wind shakes and turns them. The broad-leaved 

 and the narrow-leaved cat-tails are the two well known 

 species in the United States. 



Broad-leaved cat-tail, Typha latifolia. — In the broad-leaved 

 cat-tail (Fig. 59) the two sections of the flower spike are close- 

 ly adjoining. The upper yellower half contains the male or 

 staminate flowers and the lower olive-green part holds the 

 pistillate ones. Pollen of the staminate flowers is wind- 

 carried from one spike to another. The flowers first appear 

 in June. Soon after that the staminate part of the spike 

 shrivels, but the pistillate half fluffs out into the familiar 

 chestnut -brown cat-tail head, about an inch in diameter, 

 which lasts all through the winter, even well into the next 

 spring. But toward spring it loses its trim, clipped surface, 

 and becomes more and more shaggy and unkempt as its 

 quarter million or so of seeds are gradually loosened from 

 the central stalk. 



Occurrence. — Although both species are widely distributed, 

 the broad -leaved cat-tail, Typha latifolia (Fig. 59), is com- 

 moner than the narrow-leaved, Typha angustifolia (Fig. 60). 

 It is found throughout temperate North America; frequent 



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