SEED-BEARING PLANTS 
TYPES OF MONOCOTYLEDONS 
4QI 
427. Cat-tail Family (Typhaceae). The cat- tails are 
one of the most primitively organized family of Angio- 
sperms. They grow in groups or associations in swamps 
and wet places, and are conspicuous by their tall, upright 
and grass-like leaves, and by the inflorescences or "cat- 
tails " in late summer and fall (Fig. 374). The monoecious 
FIG. 375. Staminate flower of the broad-leaved cat-tail (Typha lati- 
folia). (Cf. Fig. 376.) 
flowers are borne on a fleshy axis or spadix, the pistillate 
below, and the staminate above near the tip. The flowers 
have neither calyx nor corolla (Figs. 375 and 376), and the 
one-celled ovary contains but one ovule. The embryo is 
surrounded by abundant endosperm, often called albu- 
men. The copious brown down of the fruit is composed 
of club-shaped hairs on the stipe, or stalk-like support of 
the pistil. 
428. Water-plantain Family (Alismaceae;. The type 
genus 1 of the water-plantain family is the water-plantain 
1 The type genus of a family is the genus from which the family name 
often is derived, and usually (though not always) embodies in a striking 
way the characters which distinguish the family. 
