NUDIFLOR.E 347 



83. The Reed Mace Group. 



Of the Order Typhaceae, including the Bur Reeds, 

 there are about sixteen species, and two genera, Typha, 

 Sparganium, of which some six species are found in 

 the British Isles. They are natives of Temperate 

 and Tropical regions. The members of this group 

 show relationship with the Cuckoo Pint group, and 

 the Screw Pine Group, to which last the Bur Reeds 

 are closely allied. 



They are aquatic or marsh plants, herbaceous, 

 perennial. The habit is like that of the Grass group. 

 The rootstock is creeping. The leaves have a sheath 

 at the base, and are narrow, linear, blunt. There is 

 no spathe, or if present it is not persistent. 



The plant is monoecious. The inflorescence is in 

 a round or oblong spike or head, with the male 

 fliowers above. The perianth consists of three or 

 more hairs or scales, which are membranous and 

 persistent. In the male flowers, which are above the 

 female, there are few, one to six (or many), stamens, 

 distinct or monadelphous, with slender anther-stalks^ 

 united by the filaments. The two-celled erect anthers 

 are fixed by the base. They open at the sides. In 

 the female flowers the free ovary is either stalkless or 

 stalked and tapers into a slender, simple, persistent 

 style, being one- to two-celled, with the stigmatic 

 surface ventral, or unilateral. There is a single ovule. 



