548 TYPHACE^. (cat-tail FAMILY.) 



Rootstocks creeping and stoloniferous ; roots fibrous. Stems simple or branch 

 ing, sheathed below by the base of the linear leaves. Flowering through the 

 summer. (Name from avdpyavov, ajillet, from the ribbon-like leaves.) 



* Fi-uit sessile, broad and truncate, often 2-seeded ; stigmas often 2, elongated ; 



scales rigid, iiearly equalling the fruit ; erect, with branched inflorescence 



1. S. euryc^rpum, Engelm. Stems stout, erect (2-4° high); leaves 

 mostly flat and merely keeled ; pistil attenuate into a short style bearing 1 or 

 2 elongated stigmas; fruit-heads 2-6 or more, 1' wide; fruit many-angled 

 (3^ - 4" long) when mature, with a broad and depressed or retuse summit ab- 

 ruptly tipped in the centre. — Borders of ponds, lakes, and rivers, N. Eng. to 

 Va., west to the Pacific. 



* * Fruit comparatively narrow^ and mostly somewhat stipitate, l-celled, longer 



than the scales. 



2. S. simplex, Huds. Stems slender, erect (^-2° high); leaves more or 

 less triquetrous (2^-4" wide) ; fertile heads (1 -4) of the usually simple inflo- 

 rescence often above the axils, sessile or peduncled, 6- 8" wide in fruit; stigma 

 linear, equalling the rather slender style or shorter; nutlets \>2i\B, fusiform or 

 narrowly oblong (about 2" long), more or less contracted in the middle. — N- 

 Eng. to N. J., west to Mich., Minn., and northward. (Eu.) 



Var. androcladum, Engelm. Stouter (1^-3° high), with usuallv 

 broader leaves (4-9") and branching inflorescence, the head or peduncles axil 

 lary or nearly so ; fruiting heads (1 - 7) often larger (6 - 1 2" broad), the nutlets 

 2-3" long. (S. androcladum, Moroug.) — In bogs or shallow water, common ; 

 N. Eng. to Fla., west to Minn, and Mo. 



Var. angustif 61ium, Engelm. Very slender ; leaves floating, long and 

 narrow (^-2^ wide), flat; inflorescence simple; heads (4-6" broad) and 

 nutlets smaller. — Mountain lakes *nd slow streams, X. Y., N. Eng., and nortli- 

 ward ; sometimes nearly out of water, dwarf and with shorter erect leaves. 



Var. fluitans, Engelm. Floating in deep water, with long slender stems 

 and flat narrow leaves ; inflorescence usually short, sparingly branched ; style 

 stout with a short oval stigma ; fruiting heads 4 - 6" broad ; nutlets dark, as 

 large as in the type. (S. androcladum, var. fluctuans, Morong. ; not S. fluitans, 

 Fries.) — Ponds, Penn., W. Conn., White Mts., N. Minn., and northward. 



3. S. minimum, Fries. Usually footing, icith very slender stems and thin 

 flat narrow leaves; fertile heads 1 or 2, axillary, sessile or peduncled (4-5" 

 wide) ; stigma oval, about as long as the short style, scarcely surpassing the 

 oval or obovate denticulate scales ; /n»7 oblong-obovate (1 - 2" long), pointed, 

 somewhat triangular, the stipe very short or none. — N. Eng. to Tcnn., N. Ind., 

 Minn., north and westward. — Stems 3-6' high when growing out of water, 

 much longer when submerged. (Eu.) 



Order 123. ARACEJE. (Arum Family.) 



Plants loith acrid or pungent juice, simple or compound often veiny leaves^ 

 and flowers crowded on a spadix, ivhich is usually surrounded by a spathe. 

 — Floral envelopes none, or of 4-6 sepals. Fruit usually a berry. 

 Seeds with fleshy albumen, or none, but filled with the large fleshy em* 



