TYPHACEAE (CAT-TAIL FAMILY) 31 



Scales and branches opposite; bracts connate . . . . .1. E. antisyphilitica. 

 Scales and branches in threes; bracts hardly connate. 



Scales short (2-3 mm.); fruit scabrous 2. E. Torreyana. 



Scales long (6-12 mm.); fruit smooth 3. E. trifurca. 



1. Ephedra antisyphilitica Mey. Monog. Ephedr. 101. 1846. Stems mostly 

 lax and slender, declinate and nearly prostrate: bark not shreddy or fibrous: 

 scales distinct, subpersistent, very short and triangular-ovate, or when young 

 setaceously tipped and slightly sheathing (sometimes 4 mm. long): aments on 

 short bracteate peduncles: filaments distinct above the perianth: pistillate 

 flowers with 3 or 4 pairs of bracts: fruit 5-6 mm. long. Colorado to Texas and 

 New Mexico. 



2. Ephedra Torreyana Wats. Proc. Am. Acad. 14: 299. 1899. Erect, 3- 

 10 dm. high or more, the branches often somewhat flexuous, not spinose, 

 usually ternate: scales short, sheathing, ternate, with broad and acutish or 

 rarely narrow lobes, subpersistent, not becoming shreddy: staminate aments 

 nearly sessile, of 6-8 whorls of broad bracts; perianth round-ovate, slightly 

 exserted; anthers 5-8, stipitate: pistillate flowers 6-10 mm. long, on a very 

 short peduncle, of 5-6 whorls of thin broadly dilated unguiculate more or 

 less crenulate bracts: fruit solitary or in threes, oblong- lanceolate, scabrous, 

 8 mm. long or less. Colorado to California. 



3. Ephedra trifurca Torr. Bot. Emory Rep. 152. 1848. Erect, much 

 branched, 4-16 dm. high, the straight rigid branches spinosely tipped: scales 

 conspicuous, sheathing, 6-12 mm. long, sharply acuminate, persistent, becom- 

 ing whitish and shreddy: staminate aments on a very short peduncle, of 5 

 whorls of ovate bracts about equaling the cuneate-oblong perianths: anthers 

 (4 or 5) stipitate: fertile flowers nearly sessile, 10-12 mm. long, of numerous 

 whorls (8-10) of very thin and scarious entire round-cordate unguiculate 

 bracts: fruit solitary, 12 mm. long, 4-sided, attenuate upward, smooth. 

 Texas to Arizona and north to Colorado. 



ANGIOSPERMS 



The prevailing seed-plants of the present flora, characterized by ovules be- 

 ing inclosed by the carpel. 



10. TYPHACEAE J. St. Hil. CAT-TAIL FAMILY 



Rootstocks creeping. Leaves long, sheathing the base of the simple joint- 

 less stems, erect, thickish. Flowers in a long and very dense cylindrical spike 

 terminating the stem; the upper part consisting of stamens only, inserted di- 

 rectly on the axis, and intermixed with long hairs; the lower part consisting of 

 stipitate 1-celled ovaries, the stipes bearing club-shaped bristles, which form 

 the copious down of the fruit. Nutlets minute, very long stalked. Spathes 

 merely deciduous bracts, or none. 



1. TYPHA L. 



Characters of the family. 



1. Typha latifolia L. Sp. PI. 971. 1753. Stout and tall, 1-2 m. high: leaves 

 flat, sheathing. 1-2 cm. broad, exceeding the stem: spike 1-3 dm. long; the 

 upper half staminate; the lower pistillate, dark brown, 2-3 cm. thick: pistillate 

 flowers without bracelets; stigma rhombic-lanceolate: pollen grains in fours. 

 In marshes throughout North America. 



2. Typha angustifolia L. 1. c. Leaves narrower: spike brown, the stami- 

 nate and pistillate portions distant, the pistillate with bractlets: stigmas lin- 



