390 OXXX. AEOIDE^. 



as " Duck-wccd ;" with or without a root ; their body frond-like, lenticu- 

 lar, rarely nerved, and with a sort of petiole. Flowers minute, bursting 

 from a slit in the frond. — L. minor, at least, occurs in South Africa. The 

 5 species of which the Linnican genus consists, have been recently distri- 

 buted into 4 genera, based on very slight characters. 



Order CXXXI. TYPHACEiE. 



Male and female flowers on distinct spadices of tlie same 

 plant, closely crowded ; the males reduced to a nude stamen, 

 many barren ; the females to a pistil. Fertile stamens soli- 

 tary or 2-4 together and connate by their filaments, mixed 

 with more numerous scale-like staminodia ; filaments elongate; 

 anthers 2-celled, erect ; cells parallel. Pistils sessile or 

 stalked, each surrounded by staminodia. Ovary 1-OYuled ; 

 ovule pendulous ; style 1 ; stigma tongue-like, long, unilateral. 

 Fruit 1-seeded, dry ; embryo in fleshy albumen. — Marsh or 

 aquatic. Stem simple or rarely branched, terete, leafy. Leaves 

 scattered, narrow, linear, sheathing at the base. Spadices 

 superposed at the the apices of the stem or branches, globose 

 or cylindi'ical ; the lower female, upper male. 



1. TYPHA, Linn. 



Spadices 2, cylindrical, the male above the female. Fertile 

 stamens 2-4 together, connate by their filaments. Ovaries on 

 long stalks ; style long, capillary. — Kunth, I. c. p. 90. 



Erect, reed-like marsh plants, with creeping roots. Stem tall, terete, 

 solid, nodeless, leafy. Leaves with long sheathing bases, linear. Spadices 

 superposed on the end of the stem. — T. latifoUa (the Keed-Mace), a native 

 also of Europe, N. Asia, and America, is common in the colony by water- 

 courses, etc. 



Order CXXXII. PALMiE. 



Flowers bisexual or polygamous, on simple or branched 

 spadices. Perianth 6-parted, persistent, in a double row ; the 

 3 outer segments often smaller, the 3 inner soQietimes deeply 

 connate. Stamens in the base of the perianth, usually 6, sel- 

 dom 3 ; in a few cases indefinite. Ovary 1-3- celled or deeply 

 3-lobed ; ovules mostly solitary, very rarely in pairs, erect ; 

 styles as many as the cells, very short, mostly cohering. Fruit 

 berried or drupaceous, 3-1-celled, 3-1-seeded. Embryo lodged 

 in a special cavity of the cartilaginous, horny or oily albumen. 



The Pahus, the great ornaments of tropical scenery, have been justly 



