548 TYPHACE^E. (CAT-TAIL FAMILY.) 



Rootstocks creeping and stoloniferous ; roots fibrous. Stems simple or branch* 

 ing, sheathed below by the base of the linear leaves. Flowering througk the 

 summer. (Name from ffirdpyavov, a fillet, from the ribbon-like leaves.) 



* Fruit sessile, broad and truncate, often Z-seeded ; stigmas often 2, elongated ; 



scales rigid, nearly equalling the fruit; erect, with branched inflorescence 



1. S. eurycarpum, Engelm. Stems stout, erect (2 -4 high); leave* 

 mostly flat and merely keeled ; pistil attenuate into a short style bearing 1 or 

 2 elongated stigmas ; fruit-heads 2 - 6 or more, V wide ; fruit many-angled 

 (3 - 4" long) when mature, with a broad and depressed or retuse summit ab- 

 ruptly tipped in the centre. Borders of ponds, lakes, and rivers, N. Eng. to 

 Va., west to the Pacific. 



* * Fruit comparatively narrow, and mostly somewhat stipitate, l-celled, longer 



than the scales. 



2. S. simplex, Huds. Stems slender, erect (-2 high); leaves more or 

 less triquetrous (2^-4" wide) ; fertile heads (1-4) of the usually simple inflo- 

 rescence often above the axils, sessile or peduncled, 6 - 8" wide in fruit ; stigma 

 linear, equalling the rather slender style or shorter; nutlets pale, fas ifor m or 

 narrowly oblong (about 2" long), more or less contracted in the middle. N 

 Eng. to N. J., west to Mich., Minn., and northward. (Eu.) 



Var. andr6cladum, Engelm. Stouter (H-3 high), with usually 

 broader leaves (4 - 9") and branching inflorescence, the head or peduncles axil- 

 lary or nearly so ; fruiting heads (1 - 7) often larger (6 - 1 2" broad), the nutlets 

 2 - 3" long. (S. androcladum, Morong.) In bogs or shallow water, common ; 

 N. Eng. to Fla., west to Minn, and Mo. 



Var. angUStif 61ium, Engelm. Very slender ; leaves floating, long and 

 narrow (|-2" wide), flat; inflorescence simple; heads (4-6" broad) and 

 nutlets smaller. Mountain lakes ind slow streams, N. Y., N. Eng., and north- 

 ward ; sometimes nearly out of water, dwarf and with shorter erect leaves. 



Var. fluitans, Engelm. Floating in deep water, with long slender stems 

 and flat narrow leaves ; inflorescence usually short, sparingly branched ; style 

 stout with a short oval stigma ; fruiting heads 4 - 6" broad ; nutlets dark, as 

 large as in the type. (S. androcladum, var. fluctuans, Morong. ; not S. fluitans, 

 Fries.) Ponds, Penn., W. Conn., White Mts., N. Minn., and northward. 



3. S. minimum, Fries. Usually floating, with very slender stems and thin 

 flat narrow leaves ; fertile heads 1 or 2, axillary, sessile or peduncled (4 - 5" 

 wide) ; stigma oval, about as long as the short style, scarcely surpassing the 

 oval or obovate denticulate scales ; fruit oblong -obov ate (1 - 2" long), pointed, 

 somewhat triangular, the stipe very short or none. N. Eng. to Penn., N. Ind., 

 Minn., north and westward. Stems 3-6' high when growing out of water, 

 much longer when submerged. (Eu.) 



ORDER 123. ARACEu3E. (ARUM FAMILY.) 



Plants with acrid or pungent juice, simple or compound often veiny leaves^ 

 and flowers crowded on a spadix, which is usually surrounded by a spathe. 

 Floral envelopes none, or of 4-6 sepals. Fruit usually a berry. 

 Seeds with fleshy albumen, or none, but filled with the large fleshy em- 



