FAMILIES OF FLOWERING PLANTS. 21 
strands are often seen on sea beaches, furnishes the chief food for the 
wild ducks, and contributes much to the delicate flavor of the canvas- 
back. The mode of fertilization in this plant is remarkable. The 
staminate flower becomes detached while still in the form of a bud, 
and expands floating on the surface of the water; the liberated pollen 
soon reaches the pistillate flowers, whose long peduncles have brought 
them to the surface; after fertilization the scapes contract spirally, so 
as to bring the young fruit below the surface while it is maturing. 
(See Figs. 16 and 17.) 
ORDER TRIURIDALES. 
Family Triuridaceae.—Tailflower Family. Two or three genera 
and few species, entirely tropical. They are terrestrial and saprophytic 
herbs of small size, yellowish or reddish in color and entirely leafless; 
the flowers are monoecious, borne in racemes, or sometimes solitary; 
the perianth consists of a single series of three or more segments. 
The flowers are often fringed, while those of Zréw7/s are provided with 
threé long tail-like appendages to the perianth lobes, thus giving the 
name to the family. , These little plants are interesting to the botanist, 
but they are of no economic value. 
