814 TYPHACE^. (cat-tail FAMILY.) 



long, .01 thick, in the staminate tree subternate; flowers pale-yellow: 

 fruit obovate, sessile, .07 long, .05 broad, truncate, resembling a mi- 

 nute cocoauut, pruinose — March — 'Aqabah; Around Tor in Arabia 

 Petrosa. The fibrous husk of the fruit is eaten by the people. It 

 resembles gingerbread in taste. 



OtiderCXY. TYPHACE JH, Juss. (Cat-Tail Family). 

 Marsli or aqimtiG herhs^ with linear, sessile leaves, and 

 monc£cioiis flowers on a spadix, or in glohular heads, destitute 

 of proper floral envelopes. The upper spikes or heads stami- 

 iiate, the lower pistillate. Perigonium consisting of three or 

 more scales or bristles. Stamens 1-3, with thread-like fila- 

 ments, free or connate at base. Ovary free, with a single, 

 pendulous ovule, one style, and a simple, unilateral stigma. 

 iS"utlet with a membranous or somewhat drupaceous pericarp. 

 Seed pendulous. Embryo linear, in the axis of the farina- 

 ceous albumen, radicle superior. 



1. TYPHA, L. Cat-Tail Flag. 



Spikes 2-0 on each axis, cylindrical, the upper staminate, the lower 

 1-2 pistillate. Staminate spikes: floral leaves 3-4, soon deciduous; 

 flowers naked, 1-3-androus, subtended by numerous simple or brandl- 

 ing hairs arisiog from the axis, the filaments filiform, simple or branch- 

 ing, the anthers 4-celled, ending in a dilated connective. Pistillate 

 spiles : flowers naked, or subtended by a bracteole with a spatlmlate 

 tip; ovary oblong, short-stipitate, beset at base with numerous bristles. 

 Style filiform. Stigma linear or spathulate-ovate. Fruit a nutlet, with 

 a long, hairy stalk, indehiscent, or dehiscent by a longitudinal slit — 

 Tall, aquatic herbs, with a creeping, stoloniferous root-stock, cylindri- 

 cal, leafy stems, and linear, leathery leaves. 



* Stigmas lanceolate-spatTiidate. 



1 . T. latifolia, L. 2f Broad-leaved Cat-Tail. Reed-Mace. Leaves 

 iH'oad-linear, jiat, longer than flowering stalk. Spikes often Close 

 together, the pistillate brown, turning blackish ; stigmas much longer 

 than perigonial bristles — Summer — Stagnant or running water. 



* '*' Stif/mas linear. 



2. T. augiistifolia, L. 21 Narrow-leaved Cat-Tail. Leaves 

 linear, concave, longer than flowering stem. Spikes often remote, the 

 pistillate brown; bracteoles filiform at base, ovate-spathulate toward 

 tip, as long as perigonial hrisfJes; stigmas much longer than perigonial 

 bristles — Summer-- Stagnant and running waters. 



3. T, angustata, Bory et Chaub. 21 Leaves narrowly linear, 

 convex at outer, flat at inner face, longer than flowers. Spikes often 

 remote, the pistillate pale brown, with greyish dots ; bracteoles filiform 

 at base, ovate-spathulate toward tip, about as long as linear stigmas, 

 much longer than perigonial Iristles — Summer — Stagnant and running 

 waters. 



2. SPARGAiVIttJiW, L. Bdr-Reed. 



Flowers arranged in globular heads along the primary and second- 



