20 KEY AND FLORA 
CLASS IT. ANGIOSPERMS 
Plants with a closed ovary, in which the seeds are matured. 
Cotyledons 1 or 2. 
SUBCLASS I. MONOCOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS 
Stems with the fibrovascular bundles scattered among the 
parenchyma cells; in perennial plants no annual rings of wood. 
Leaves usually parallel-veined, alternate, nearly always entire. 
Parts of the flower generally in threes (never in fives). Coty- 
ledon 1. 
2. TYPHACEA. Cat-Tait Famiry 
Perennial marsh or aquatic plants. Rootstock stout, creep- 
ing; stem simple, cylindrical, erect. Leaves simple, strap- 
shaped, sheathing at the base, nerved and striate. Flowers 
moncecious, in a single terminal spike, staminate part of the 
spike uppermost, each part subtended by spathe-like deciduous 
bracts. Perianth of fine bristles. Staminate flowers sessile, 
stamens 2-7; filaments connate, subtended by minute bracts. 
Pistillate flowers short-pediceled. Ovary 1-2-celled; styles 
1-2. Fruit small, nut-like.* 
TYPHA L. 
Characters of the family. 
1. T. latifolia L. Car-Tait. Stem erect, jointed below, 5-8 ft. 
high. Leaves nearly as long as the stem, about 1 in. wide, netted 
and with a bloom. Spike cylindrical, dark brown or black; staminate 
portion above the pistillate, usually without any interval between 
them, each 4-8 in. long and about 1 in. in diameter. Fruit furrowed. 
Common in marshes and shallow ponds.* 
