126 



TYPHACE/E, 



[Endogens. 



Order XXXV. TYPHACE^.— Typhads or Bulrushes. 



m t r „ a- .Tram ArniHp»> 6 3 ft Brown Prodr. 338. (1810).— Typhineoe, Agardh Aph. 



//(uirffc. 1.132.133. ;l82y),a««;c<Jo»wo/Cyperace8e. StAreitefewi dtwert. 184ft. 

 Diagnosis —Aral Endomnt, with numerous flowers on a naked spadix, a scaly or hairy 

 calyx, long filaments, a solitary pendulous ovule, a seed adherent to its pericarp, 

 and slit embryo. , , 



Herbaceous plants, growingin marshes or ditches. Stems without nodes. Leaves npd, 

 ensiform, with parallel veins. Flowers $ ? , very closely arranged upon a spatheless 

 { spadix. Sepals = mere scales, 3 in number or more ; some- 



times a mere bundle of hairs. Petals wanting. $ : Stamens 

 3 or 6; anthers wedge-shaped, attached by their base to long 

 filaments, which are sometimes monadelphous. ? : Ovary 

 single, superior, 1 -celled ; ovule solitary, pendulous, anatro- 

 paf; style short ; stigmas simple, linear. Fruit dry, not 

 opening, 1-celled, 1 -seeded, made angular by mutual pressure. 

 Seed pendulous, with a membranous skin adhering to the peri- 

 carp. Embryo hi the centre of mealy albumen, straight, taper, 

 with a cleft in one side, in which the plumule lies ; radicle 

 next the hilum. 



Jussieu, following Adanson, distinguishes these from Arads, 

 with which Brown re-unites them, retaining them, however, in 

 a separate section. They are generally regarded as a dis- 

 tinct tribe by most writers, and seem sufficiently character- 

 ised by their calyx being 3-sepaled and half-glumaceous, or a 

 mere bundle of long hairs, by then- lax filaments, wedged an- 

 thers, solitary pendulous ovules, and peculiar habit. Agardh 

 refers Bulrushes to glumaceous Monocotyledons, on account of 

 the analogy between the calyx of Typha and the hypogynous 

 hairs of Eriophorum, a genus of Sedges ; and a similar 

 view of their affinity has been taken by Link ; and in fact 

 they do appear to constitute a direct transition from the 

 glumaceous to petaloid Endogens, for although their floral 

 envelopes are mere scales, yet they are arranged in regular 

 •whorls. In habit they are hardly distin- 

 guishable from Sedges. In another point 

 of view they may be looked upon as 

 diminutive species of Screw-pines (Pan- 

 danacese), and Kunth so considered them 

 formerly : but their simple fruit, solitary 

 ovules, and the slit in the side of their 

 embryo, offer sufficient marks of distinc- 

 tion. 



Found commonly in the ditches and 

 marshes of the northern parts of the world, 

 but uncommon in tropical countries : one 

 species occurs in St. Domingo, and another 

 in New Holland. Two are described from 

 equinoctial America. 

 Fig. LXXXIV. They are of little Known use. The 



powdered flowers have been used as an application to ulcers. The pollen of Typha is 

 inflammable, like that of Lycopodium, and is used as a substitute for it. De Candolle 

 remarks that it is probable" the facility of collecting this pollen which is the real cause 

 of its use, and that any other kind would do as well. The rhizomes of Typha abound 

 in starch, are somewhat astringent and diuretic, and are employed in the east of Asia 

 in dysentery, gonorrhoea, and the measles ; they are also used as food. The pollen, 

 mixed with water, forms a kind of bread in Scinde, Western Australia, and New 



GENERA. Numbers, Gen. 2. Sp. 13. (Kunth.) 



Acoracece. 



Position. Tiphaceje. — Pandauacea?. 



Cyperacece. 



Typha, /-. 



Sparganium, L. 



Platanaria, Gray. 



Pig. 1.XXXIV — 1, Typhalatifblia; 2, its fruit; 3, a suction of the seed ; 4, the embryo; 5,astamen. 

 Ssenbeck. 



