Wild Flowers East of the Rockies 19 



CAT-TAIL FAMILY (Typhaceae). 



The members of this family are very abundant 

 aquatic herbs with perennial roots. Sometimes we 

 find them in groups of only two or three plants, and 

 again acres of marsh may be covered with wav- 

 ing green leaves. We have two species with differ- 

 ences as noted below. Both have staminate yellow 

 flowers in a spike above the pistillate brown ones; 

 the former soon fall off or blow away, while the 

 latter develop into the large, familiar, brown cat- 

 tail that is often used for decorative purposes. These 

 plants are self fertilized by the pollen from the stam- 

 inate flowers falling upon the stigmas of the pistil- 

 late ones below. 



Tracts of cat-tail marshes usually furnish homes 

 for various species of birds. The Marsh Wren at- 

 taches its handsome globular nest to the rushes a 

 few feet above water; Least Bitterns fasten their 

 rude platforms also in the leaves, while rails, coots 

 and grebes find appropriate places among the roots 

 on the ground, at the waters edge or even floating 

 upon the surface of the water. The two species of 

 Cat-tails that we have, differ as follows: 



COMMON CAT-TAIL (Typha latifolia) has yellow- 

 ish staminate flowers encircling the upper end of the 

 flower stalk, and immediately below is a long cylin- 

 drical mass of brownish pistillate ones. The pollen 

 grains are arranged in fours. Leaves three to eight 

 feet long, sheathing at the base. Found in marshes 

 throughout the United States and southern Canada, 

 flowering in June and July. 



NARROW-LEAVED CAT-TAIL (Typha angusti- 

 folia) has narrower leaves, averaging less than % in. 

 broad. The two kinds of flowers are separated by a 

 bare space of stalk and the pollen grains are simple. 

 This species is locally found from Me. to Mich, south- 

 wards, chiefly near the coast. 



