126 



TYPHACE^. 



[Endogen* 



Order XXXV. TYPHACEtE.— Typhads or Bulrushes. 



Typhae, Juss. Gen. 25. (1789).— Aroideae, § 3. R. Brown Prodr. 338. (1810).— Typhinese.^pardA Aph. 

 139. (1823). Kunth. enum. 3. 88. (1841).— Typhaceas, BC. and Duhy, 482. (1828) ; Richard in Arch, 

 de Bot. vol. 1. p. 193 ; Endlich. gen. Ixxiii. ; Meisn.p. 360.— Typhoidese and Sparganioidese , Link. 

 Handb. 1. 132. 133. '1829), as sections o/Cyperacese. 



Diagnosis. — Aral Endogens, tvitJi numerous fioioers on a tuiked sjxidix, a scaly or hairy 

 calyx, long filaments, a solitary pendulous ovule, a seed adherent to its pericarp, 

 and slit embryo. 

 Herbaceous plants, grooving in marshes or ditches. Stems without nodes. Leaves rigid, 

 ensiform, with parallel veins. Flowers $ $ , very closely arranged upon a spatheless 

 1 spadix. Sepals = mere scales, 3 in number or more ; some- 



times a mere Ijundle of hairs. Petals wanting. <^ : Stamens 

 3 or 6 ; anthers wedge-shaped, attached by their base to long 

 filaments, which are sometimes monadelphous. ^ : Ovary 

 single, superior, 1 -celled ; ovule solitary, pendulous, anatro- 

 pal ; style short ; stigmas simple, linear. Fruit dry, not 

 openmg, 1 -celled, 1 -seeded, made angular by mutual pressure. 

 Seed pendulous, with a membranous skin adliering to the peri- 

 carp. Embryo in the centre of mealy albumen, straight, taper, 

 vAth a cleft in one side, m which the plumule hes ; radicle 

 next the hilum. 



Jussieu, following Adanson, distinguishes these from Arads, 

 ^^'ith which Brown re-miites them, retaining them, however, m 

 a separate section. They are generally regarded as a dis- 

 tmct tribe by most waiters, and seem sufficiently character- 

 ised by their calyx being 3-sepaled and half-glumaceous, or a 

 mere bundle of long haii's, by their lax filaments, wedged an- 

 thers, solitary pendulous ovules, and pecuMar habit. Agardli 

 refers Bulrushes to glumaceous Monocotyledons, on account of 

 the analogy between the calyx of Typha and the hypogynous 

 hairs of Eriophorura, a genus of Sedges ; and a similar 

 \iew of theii' affinity has been taken by Link ; and in fact 

 they do appear to constitute a direct transition from the 

 glumaceous to petaloid Endogens, for although their floral 

 envelopes are mere scales, yet they are arranged in regular 

 whorls. In habit they are hardly distin- 

 guishable from Sedges, In another point 

 of ^iew they may be looked upon as 

 dimmutive species of Screw-pines (Pan- 

 danacete), and Kunth so considered them 

 formerly : but their simple fruit, solitary 

 ovules, and the slit in the side of theu' 

 eml^ryo, offer sufficient marks of distinc- 

 tion. 



Found commonly in the ditches and 

 marshes of the northern parts of the world, 

 but uncommon in tropical countries : one 

 species occurs in St. Domingo, and another 

 m New Holland. Two are described from 

 equinoctial America. 



They are of little knowTi use. The 



Fig. LXXXIV 



powdered flowers have been used as an appHcation to ulcers. The pollen of Typha is 

 inflammable, hke that of Lycopodium, and is used as a svibstitute for it. De CandoUe 

 remarks that it is probable the facility of coUectmg this pollen which is the real cause 

 of its use, and that any other kind would do as well. The rhizomes of Typha abomid 

 in starch, are somewhat astringent and dim'etic, and are employed in the east of Asia 

 in dysentery, gonori'hoea, and the measles. 



GENERA. 

 Typha, L. I Sparganium, L. 



I Platanaria, Gray. 



Numbers. Gen. 2. Sp. 13. (Kunth.) 

 AcoracecB. 

 Position. Typhace/E. — Pandanacese. 



CyperacecB. 



Fig. LXXXIV. — 1. Typha latifolia ; 2. its fruit ; 3. a section of the seed ; 4. the emhryo ; 5. a stamen. 

 — Nees V. Esenheck. 



