176 



narrowed towards the base. Capsules minutely dotted. This 

 is a common plant in the woods of England and flowers very 

 early in the Spring, and often in the Autumn also. 



O. S. Purple Spurge, Broad-leaved Spurge, Irish Spurge, Hairy- 

 Spurge, Leafy Branched Spurge, Cypress Spurge, Sea Spurge, 1'ortland 

 Spurge, Petty Spurge, Caper Spurge, and Red Shrubby Spurge. 



REED-MACE. TYPHA. 

 REED-MACE. BULL-RUSH. CAT'S-TAIL. Typha latifolia. 



Plate 14, fig. 4. 



Very common is ponds, lakes, and river-banks, growing five 

 or six feet high, with a naked, round stem, bearing on the top 

 of it a tapering spike of sessile, yellow flowers, all of them 

 consisting of stamens only, without calyx or corolla, or pointals ; 

 close under this is another round close spike of flowers bearing 

 pointals only, without calyx or corolla, but each of them sur- 

 rounded by a quantity of brown pointed hairs, so that this 

 noble-looking spike appears like a mass altogether of hairs, as 

 large and even more closely set than those on a cat's tail, hence 

 one of the names of the plant. The leaves all arise direct from 

 the root, and are very long and narrow ; it flowers in August, 

 and is one of the best examples to show the nature of the 

 twenty-first class as the two sorts of flowers are so distinct 

 from each other. 



BUR-REED. SPARGANIUM. 

 BRANCHED BUR-REED. Sparganium ramosum. 



Plate 14, fig. 5. 



Also a mud plant, growing in ditches, &c., flowering in July, 

 but very different in appearance from the last. The stem is 

 round and branched. The root-leaves are very long, sword- 

 shaped, rather wide below, and hollowed out at the sides the 

 stem-leaves narrower and shorter, bracts still more so, both 

 clasping the stem. Flowers collected in several distant round 

 heads. Those with stamens on the upper part of the plant t 

 those with pointals, below. 



O. S. Unbranched Upright Bur-reed, and Floating Bur-reed, neither 

 very rare. The last grows in such great abundance in the quieter part of 

 the Thames as materially to impede the passage of boats, covering some- 

 times whole acres with its very long narrow, thin leaves, but never seen 

 in flower. This is here mentioned, because very many good botanists have 

 been pu/.zled to know the name of the plant alluded to. 



