188 TYPHACE^E. Spanjanium. 



ORDER CXII. TYPHACE.aE. 



Aquatic perennial herbs, with creeping rootstocks, cylindric solid stems, alternate 

 linear entire sessile leaves, and monoecious flowers in heads or on a spadix, without 

 perianth, the upper spikes staminiferous ; stamens and ovaries intermixed witli 

 bristles or scales ; anthers linear, longitudinally dehiscent ; ovaries 1 - 2-celled, 

 1-ovuled, with a slender style and 1 -sided stigmas, becoming dry and nut-like; seeds 

 pendulous, anatropous, with copious albumen and a straight axile embryo. Only 

 two genera, scarcely reaching California. 



1. Sparganium. Flowers in globular heads with foliaceous bracts. 



2. Typha. Flowers in a cylindrical compact terminal spike : spathe-like bract deciduous. 



1. SPABGANIUM, Tourn. BUR-REED. 



Flowers in dense separate globose heads on a leafy-bracted simple or branching 

 spadix, the upper heads staminate. Stamens with slender elongated filaments, 

 mingled with minute scales. Ovaries sessile, 1 - 2-celled, surrounded by 3 to 6 

 very narrowly linear-subulate scales. Fruit indehiscent, wedge-shaped or clavate. 

 Seed ovoid, smooth. 



Four or five species are widely distributed through the cold and temperate regions of the 

 northern hemisphere. 



1. 8. simplex, Hudson. Stem erect, a foot high or more, rather slender, with 

 simple inflorescence : leaves triangular or flattened, exceeding the stem (often 2 or 3 

 feet long, and as many lines broad) : heads 2 to 4 of each kind, the lower often 

 above the axils, and sessile or pedunculate ; the sterile very small : stigmas single, 

 linear or oblong : fruit nearly terete, attenuate at each end, 3 or 4 lines long in- 

 cluding the linear style : scales half as long. Reichenb. Icon. Fl. Germ. ix. 

 t. 325. 



In the Sierra Nevada from Mono Pass to Oregon and northward, and eastward across the conti- 

 nent ; also European. Several varieties are described. July to September. 



2. S. eurycaipum, Engelm. Erect, stout, 2 to 4 feet high, with branching 

 inflorescence : leaves mostly flat : heads 2 to 6 or more : fruit sessile, wedge-shaped 

 and many-angled, 3 or 4 lines long, with a broad depressed summit (2| to 3| lines 

 wide), abruptly tipped with the short style. Gray, Manual, 481. 



In the Humboldt River, Nevada ( Watson), and northward, and eastward across the continent. 



2. TYPHA, Tourn. CAT-TAIL FLAG. 



Flowers in a dense cylindrical terminal spike. Stamens with very short connate 

 filaments, mixed with numerous long hairs. Ovaries long-stipitate, 1-celled, sur- 

 rounded by numerous bristles and clavate rudimentary ovaries. Styles filiform. 

 Fruit minute, usually splitting on one side. Seed linear, striate. The staminate 

 and pistillate portions of the spike are either contiguous or separate, naked or sub- 

 tended by a spathe-like deciduous bract. 



A genus of about 9 species, distributed through the tropical and temperate regions of the globe. 

 The roots are farinaceous, and the tough flat leaves are used for various domestic purposes. 



1. T. latifolia, Linn. Stout and tall, 4 to 6 feet high, the flat sheathing leaves 

 3 to 6 lines broad or more, exceeding the stem : pistillate and staminate parts of the 

 spike each 3 to 6 inches long, usually contiguous, the pistillate dark brown with 

 the crowded rhombic-lanceolate stigmas, and at length an inch in diameter ; pistil- 



