REED-MACE TRIBE. 637 



by mutual pressure. Herbaceous plants, growing in 

 marshes or ditches, with jointless stems, sword-shaped 

 leaves, and small flowers, which are only conspicuous 

 from their compact mode of growth. The order contains 

 only two families, examples of both of which are of 

 common occurrence in Great Britain. 



1. TYPHA (Eeed-mace). Flowers in spikes. (Name 

 from the Greek typhos, a marsh, where these plants grow.) 



2. SPARGANIUM (Bur-reed). Flowers in globular 

 heads. (Name in Greek denoting a little band, from 

 the ribbon-like leaves.) 



1. TYPHA (Reed-Mace). 



1. T. latifolia (Great Eeed-Mace, or Cat's Tail). 

 Leaves nearly flat ; barren and fertile spikes continuous. 



Ponds, common. Our largest herbaceous aquatic, 

 often growing 6 8 feet high, with linear leaves, and 

 stout, cylindrical stems, surmounted by a club-like 

 spike, the lower part of which contains fertile flowers 

 only, the upper barren. It is often, but incorrectly, 

 called Bulrush, the true Bulrush being Scirpus palustris, 

 a plant which has more of the habit of a gigantic rush. 

 Fl. July, August. Perennial. 



2. T. angustifolia (Lesser Eeed-Mace, or Cat's Tail). 

 Leaves grooved below ; barren and fertile spikes slightly 

 interrupted. Ponds, less frequent than the last, from 

 which it differs by the above characters, and by its 

 smaller size. Fl. July, August. Perennial. 



2. SPARGANIUM (Bur-reed). 



1. S. ramosum (Branched Bur-reed). Leaves tri- 

 angular at the base, with concave sides ; stem branched. 

 Ditches, common. A large aquatic, which at a 

 distance might be mistaken for a Flag (Iris Pseud- 

 dcorus). The leaves are sword-shaped, and the flowers 

 are collected into globular heads, of which the lower 



