480 TYPHACE.E. (CAT-TAIL FAMILY.) 



more than 2 or 3 in connection. — Occurs in Arizona and southward : but tha 

 true plant seems not to have been detected within our limits. (Eu.) 



2. WOLFFIA, Horkel, Schleiden. 

 Flowers central, bursting through the upper surface of the globular (or in some 

 foreign ones flat) and loosely cellular frond, only 2 ; one consisting of a single 

 stamen with a one-celled 2-valved anther ; the other of a globular ovary, tipped 

 with a very short style and a depressed stigma. Ovule orthotropous, rather 

 oblique in the cell. Utricle spherical. Albumen thin. — Fronds rootless, prolif- 

 erous from a cleft or funnel-shaped opening at the base, the offspring soom 

 detached : no rhaphides. — The simplest and smallest of flowering plants, from 

 £"- §" long (a new African and Cuban species much larger), floating as little grains 

 on the water. (Named for John Fred. Wolff, who wrote on Lemna in 1801.) 



1. W. Columbiana, Karsten. Globose or globular, \" -§" long, very 

 loosely cellular, light green all over, not dotted ; stomata 1 - 6 ; the opening at 

 the base circular and with a thin border. — Floating rather beneath the surface 

 of stagnant waters, nearDutcher's Bridge, Salisbury, Connecticut (Robbins, 1829), 

 Orange Co., N. Y. (Austin), Lake Ontario (Paine), Detroit (J. M. Bigelow), Illi- 

 nois (E. Hall, Engelmann, fertile), and Louisiana (Riddell). 



2. W. Brasiliensis, Weddell. Oblong, smaller and more densely cellular, 

 flattish and deep green with many stomata above, tumid and pale below, brown- 

 dotted all over, anterior edge sharp, opening at base cucular. — Growing with 

 the last from Lake Ontario to Illinois, floating on the surface. (Char, of both 

 by 67. Engelmann.) 



Order 109. TYPHACEtE. (Cat-tail Family.) 



Marsh or aquatic herbs, with nerved and linear sessile leaves, and monoz- 

 cious flowers on a spadix or in heads, destitute of proper floral envelopes. 

 Ovary tapering into a style and (usually elongated) 1 -sided stigma. 

 Fruit nut-like when ripe, 1-seeded, rarely 2-seeded. Seed suspended, 

 anatropous : embryo straight in copious albumen. Root perennial. 



1 . TYPHA, Tourn. Cat-tail Flag. 



Flowers in a long and very dense cylindrical spike terminating the stem ; the 

 upper part consisting of stamens only, intermixed with long hairs, and inserted 

 directly on the axis ; the lower or fertile part consisting of ovaries, surrounded 

 by club-shaped bristles, which form the copious down of the fruit. Nutlets 

 minute, very long-stalked. — Spathes merely deciduous bracts, or none. Root- 

 stocks creeping. Leaves long, sheathing the base of the simple jointless stems, 

 erect, thickish. Flowering in summer. (Name from rl(f)os, a fen.) 



1. T. latifolia, L. (Common Cat-tail or Reed-mace.) Leaves flat: 

 staminate and pistillate parts of the spike approximate. Common. (Eu.) 



2. T. angUStifdlia, L. (Narrow t -leaved or Small C.) Leaves chan- 

 nelled towards the base, narrowly linear ; staminate and pistillate parts of the spike 

 usually separated by an iuterval. A rarer and smaller plant. (Eu.) 



