208 



MANUAL OF BOTANY 



Projyei'ties and Uses. — None possess any very active proper- 

 ties. 



Order 27. TvPHACEiE, the Bulrush Order. — Character. — 

 Herbs growing in watery places. Leaves rigid, linear, sessile, 

 parallel-veined. Flowers monoecious, arranged on a spadix, or 

 in heads, without a spathe. No true perianth, merely scales 

 or hairs. Male flower with 1 — 6 distinct or monadelphous 

 stamens, with long filaments, and innate anthers. Female 



Fig. 971. 



Fig. 972. 



Fig. 973. 



Fig. 970. A plant of the Cvickoo-pint {Arum 

 maculatum) in fruit, b. Corm. I. Leaf. s. 



The remains of the spathe. c. Fruit. Fig. 



971. The spadix of the same with the spathe 

 removed ; the flowers are all naked and uni- 

 sexual, a number of pistillate flowers or 

 ovaries being below ; above which are some 

 rudimentary ovaries, then a number of sessile 

 anthers, and above these are some staminodes 



or abortive stamens. Fig. 972. Vertical 



section of the ovary of the same. Fig. 973. 



Vertical section of the seed. 



flower a sohtary 1-celled carpel, with a single pendulous ovule. 

 Fruit indehiscent. Seed with mealy albumen ; embryo axile ; 

 radicle next the hilum. 



Distribution and Numbers. — A few are found in tropical 

 and warm climates, but they are most abundant in the northern 

 parts of the world. Illustrative Genera ;— Typha, Linn. ; 

 Sparganium, Linn. These are the only genera ; they include 

 about 13 species. 



