PIPEWORT FAMILY. 371 
Family 13. ERIOCAULACEAE Lindl. Wee. Kined. 122, | 1847." 
PIPEWORT FAMILY. 
Bog or aquatic herbs, perennial or perhaps sometimes annual, with fibrous 
mostly knotted or spongy roots, tufted grass-like basal leaves, and monoecious 
(androgynous) occasionally dioecious very small flowers, in terminal solitary 
heads, on long slender scapes. Head of flowers involucrate by bracts, each 
flower borne in the axil of ascarious scale. Perianth of 2 series of segments or 
rarely of one series. Stamens in the staminate flowers as many or twice as 
many as the sepals. Ovary 2-3-celled. Ovules 2 or 3. Fruit a 2~-3-celled, 
2-3-seeded capsule, loculicidally dehiscent. Seeds pendulous, orthotropous; 
endosperm farinaceous. 
, 
Six genera and about 340 species, widely distributed in warm and tropical regions, a few ex- 
tending into the temperate zones. The family is most abundantly represented in South America. 
Perianth of 2 series of segments; sepals and petals 2 or 3; stamens distinct; piers 2-celled. 
Stamens twice as many as the inner perianth-segments (petals). . Eriocaulon. 
Stamens as many as the inner perianth-segments. Dupatya, 
Perianth simple, of 3 segments (sepals); stamens 3, monadelphous below; anthers 1-celled. 
3. Lachnocaulon. 
1. ERIOCAULON L.. Sp. Pl. 87.1753. 
Acaulescent or very short stemmed herbs, the scapes erect, or when immersed delicate, 
angular, with a long sheathing bract at the base. Leaves mostly short, spreading, acuminate, 
parallel-nerved. Head of flowers woolly, white, lead-colored or nearly black. Staminate 
flowers: Outer perianth-segments 2 or 3, distinct or sometimes connate, the inner united be- 
low into a tube, alternate with the outer ones, each with a minute spot or gland near its mid- 
dle or apex; stamens mostly 4-6, one opposite each perianth-segment, the filaments of those 
opposite the inner segments the longer; pistil small, rudimentary or none. Pistillate flowers: 
Outer perianth-segments as in the staminate flowers, the inner indistinct, narrow; stamens 
wanting; ovary sessile or stalked; style columnar or filiform, stigmas 2 or 3 filiform. Fruit 
a thin-walled capsule. Seeds oval, covered with minute processes. [Greek, in allusion to 
the wool at the base of the scape in some species. ] 
About 110 species, of very wide geographic distribution in tropical and warm regions. Besides 
the following, 3 others occur in the southern United States, and 3 in Mexico. 
Leaf-blades as long as the sheaths, coarsely 3-8-fenestrate-nerved; scapes 7 “aueled: heads 2'’~3!’ 
diameter. EB. eS ean ss 
Leaf- blades shorter than the sheaths, finely 6-20-fenestrate-nerved; scapes Fouisaeled: heads 
3''-6'’ in diameter. 2. E. compressum. 
Leaf-blades much longer than the sheaths, finely 10-5o-nerved; scapes 10-14-angled; heads 4'’-8'/ 
in diameter. 3. E. decangulare. 
1. Eriocaulon septangulare With. Seven-angled Pipewort. (Fig. 899. ) 
Eriocaulon seplangulare With. Bot. Arr. Brit. Pl. 784. 
1776. 
yderagihia articulata Huds. Fl. Angl. Ed. 2, 415. 1778. 
Eriocaulon articulatum Morong, Bull. Torr. Club, 18: 
353- 1891. 
Stem a mere crown. Leaf-blades pellucid, 3 
fenestrate-nerved, 14/3’ long, usually as jac as 
the sheaths; scapes weak, twisted, about 7-angled, 
smooth, 1/-S’ tall, or when submersed sometimes 
4°-10° long; involucral bracts glabrous, or the 
innermost bearded at the apex, oblong, usually 
shorter than the flowers; marginal flowers usually 
staminate; scales of the receptacle spatulate or ob- 
ovate, abruptly pointed, brown above, white-woolly; 
staminate flowers about 14 ’’ high; pistillate flowers 
scarcely more than half as large; perianth-segments 
of both kinds of flowers white-bearded, 
In still water or on shores, Newfoundland to Ontario 
and Minnesota, south to Florida and Texas. Also in 
western Europe. July-—Oct. 
*Text contributed by the late Rev. THOMAS MORONG. 
