248 



TYPHACE.E. 



Typha. 



2. Typha angustifolia, Linn. Narrow-leaved Cat-tail. 



Leaves flat above, channelled toward the base ; staminate and pistillate distant. — Linn, 

 sp. 2. p. 971 ; Engl. hot. t. 1456; Pursh, fl. 1. p. 34; Bigel. ft. Bast. p. 340; Torr. 

 compend. p. 323 ; Beck, hot. p. 380; Darlingt. fl. Cest. p. 520 ; Kunth, syn. 3. 91. 



Stems and spikes much more slender, and the leaves narrower than in the preceding species ; 

 the naked space between the two spikes varying from 2 inches to about half an inch. 



Borders of ponds and swamps. Fl. June. Fr. September. Richard (/. c.) remarks, that 

 he has found, in the same swamps, and side by side, specimens that seemed to connect these 

 two species of Typha ; some of them having narrow leaves with the spikes close together, 

 and others broad leaves with the spikes separated. I have also found similar intermediate 

 forms in New-York. As to the flowering of the two species, there seems to be no essential 

 difference. 



2. SPARGANIUM. Tourn. ; Mirb. in ami. du mas. 16. t. 18 ; Endl. gen. 1710. 



BUR-REED. 



[From the Greek, sparganon, a fillet or band ; in allusion to its narrow leaves.] 



Flowers in dense globose heads, intermixed with membranaceous scales (abortive stamens ?); 

 the upper ones sterile, and the lower fertile. Stamens numerous ; the accompanying scales 

 irregularly disposed : filaments slender : anthers oblong or linear-oblong, 2-cellcd. Pistils 

 numerous, sessile, each surrounded with 3-6 scales which resemble a perianth : style 

 short : stigma linear-lanceolate, unilateral. Fruit sessile. — Marsh plants, with fibrous roots. 

 Stem simple, or branched above. Heads arranged at intervals on the simple or branching 

 summit of the stem or rachis. 



I. Sparganium ramosum, Huds. Branching Bur-reed. 



Stem erect, branching above ; leaves triangular at the base, the sides concave ; stigma 

 linear; scales of the fertile heads thickened and dilated at the summit.' — Huds.fl. Angl. p. 

 401 ; Engl. hot. t. 745 ; Pursh, fl. 1. p. 33 ; Nutt. gen. 2. p. 203 ; Bigel. fl. Bost. p. 339; 

 Torr. compend. p. 333; Beck, hot. p. 379 ; Kunth, enum. 3. p. 89. S. erectum, Linn. sp. 

 (cd. 2.) 2. p. 1378. 



Stem erect, 15 — 2 feet high, terete, dividing above into several flowering branches which 

 are a little flexuous at the divisions. Leaves 12-18 inches long and 4-6 lines wide, several 

 at the root and lower part of the stem, and one below each of the principal heads, which are 

 of the nature of spathes. Heads sessile, alternate, consisting of numerous naked flowers 

 mixed with scales, and clustered on a small roundish receptacle ; the sterile ones smaller and 

 more numerous than the fertile. Filaments long and capillary : anthers linear-oblong. Scales 

 of the sterile heads cuncate-obovate ; of the fertile dilated at the summit, and thickened in 

 the middle. Stigmas often 2, longer than the style. 



Ditches and borders of swamps : common. Fl. July. Fr. September. Our plant is not 

 usually so much branched as the European. 



