198 



Minnesota Plant Life. 



arate carpels at tlic middle of a tlower while grasses produce 

 but one. A variety of plants belonging to this division of the 

 vegetable kinudom exist in Minnesota. The class is divided 

 into orders of which eleven are recoj^nized. and the orders are 

 divided into families. 



Cat-tails. The cat-tails belong- to a small order, including 

 also the bur-reeds and the screw-pines, the latter of which are 

 not represented in the state. Cat-tails, however, are connnon 

 enough at the edges of marshes, swami)s and lakes, and a single 

 species, the broad-leaved cat-tail, is familiar in such localities. 



It is proxided with a 

 creeping rootstock which 

 lies imbedded in the mud. 

 The leaves are slender 

 and fiat, sheathing the 

 u])right branches of the 

 rootstock by their bases. 

 The flowers are of two 

 sorts, some containing 

 only carpels and others 

 onlv stamens. The two 

 kinds are ])roduced in the 

 same s])ike-like cluster, 

 the staminate aggregated 

 above and the pistillate 

 below. The l)rown cyl- 

 inder or "cat-tail" is the 

 com])act mass of pistillate 

 flr)wers. The little fruits are i)ro\ide(l with cottony hairs and 

 burst when the\ lia\e been l\ing in water for a short time, 

 ivach seed consists of a hard shell within which is considerable 

 albumen surrounding a single embryo plantlet. 



Bur-reeds. There are at least six sorts of bur-reeds in Min- 

 nesota. Tiiey occui)y similar habitats to those preferred by 

 the cat-tails. Their prostrate cree])ing rootstocks are rooted in 

 the nuid and from them erect branches arise. On these are 

 de\eloped grass-like leaves. The flowers are of two sorts as 

 in the cat-tails, and are gathered in globular heads, \arying in 

 size from a pill to a large marble. The staminate heads are 



I'lC. 71). Hur-reed. .After llrittou ;nul lirowii. 



