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LETTER XXI. 



THE BULLRUSH TRIBE THE ARROW-GRASS TRIBE 



THE DUCKWEED TRIBE. 



(Plate XXI.) 



In my last letter I mentioned that all the orders 

 we have hitherto examined among Monocotyledonous 

 plants have their flowers organized in a complete and 

 perfect manner. This letter will relate to some that 

 are incomplete and imperfect. You will find that 

 there are three degrees of organization in Monocoty- 

 ledons, of which we have passed over one, are about 

 to enter upon a second, and shall very soon arrive 

 at the third. 

 f ew; Bullrushes (Typha) are narrow flat-leaved tall 

 plants, growing in marshes or pools of stagnant water, 

 having- their stems terminated bv a dark cvlinder, sur- 

 mounted by a more slender yellow spike. These plants 

 represent a natural order, named after them, the 

 Bullrush tribey to which belongs a common wild marsh 

 plant, called Bur-reed (Sparganium). The latter will 

 furnish you with the means of studying the peculiarities 

 of the natural order. 



If you regard the Bullrush ever so attentively, you 

 will fail to discover, at any period of its growth, a 



