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TYPHACEAE 
1. ALISMA L. 
Erect perennial herbs. Inflorescence a panicle of whorled branches 
each bearing a simple or compound umbel of perfect flowers. Petals 
small, scarcly exceeding the sepals. Stamens 6, with short filaments. 
Achenes numerous, crowded in a whorl. (Alisma, the Greek name.) 
1. A. plantago L. Water PlAntain. Plants 5.7 to 11.5 (or 17) dm. 
high; rootstock becoming almost bulbous by the sheathing bases of the 
petioles; leaf-blades ovate to oblong, abruptly acute, the larger often sub- 
cordate at base.—Margins of ponds, rivers and lakes. 
2. SAGXTTARIA L. Arrow-head 
Marsh or aquatic perennial herbs with thickened or tuberous root¬ 
stocks, fibrous roots and milky juice. Leaves sheathing the stem at base ; 
earlier leaves (phyllodia) destitute of blades, later producing small entire 
blades or most commonly sagittate blades. Flowers pediceled, borne in 
whorls of 3 on the upper part of the stem, with membranous bracts. 
Flowers monoecious (rarely dioecious), the staminate above. Petals 
longer than the sepals. Stamens numerous, inserted above the receptacle. 
Ovaries numerous, crowded on a globose receptacle. Achenes flat, winged 
or margined, beaked by the short style. (Latin sagitta, an arrow, refer¬ 
ring to the shape of the leaves.) 
1. S. latifolia Willd. Tule Potato. Leaf-blades sagittate, very vari¬ 
able in outline and size, 4.8 to 28 cm. long; basal lobes lanceolate to broad¬ 
ly ovate, acuminate, commonly divaricate, y 2 to as long as the terminal 
lobe; scape simple or branched, 7.2 to 86 cm. high; achene 3 mm. long.— 
Rivers and deltas. 
TYPHACEAE. CAT-TAIL FAMILY 
Marsh or water herbs with linear leaves, staminate and pistillate 
flowers in a terminal compact cylindrical spike, and no calyx nor corolla. 
Ovary 1-celled, becoming a 1-seeded nut-like fruit.—About 12 species in 
the tropical and temperate zones. 
1. TYPHA L. 
Tall herbs with large grass-like leaves sheathing the base of the simple 
stem and terminated by a long and very dense cylindrical spike of flowers, 
the upper part staminate and wilting, the lower part pistillate, very com¬ 
pact and persistent. (Ancient Greek name of the cat-tail.) 
1. T. latifolia L. Cat-tail. Stem 11.5 to 17 dm. high ; pistillate por¬ 
tion of spike dark brown.—Marshes or marshy places along streams. 
PALMACEAE. PALM FAMILY 
Commonly trees with columnar unbranched trunks covered with leaL 
scars or the bases of leaf-stalks and bearing a tuft of large leaves at 
summit. Leaves sharply plaited when young, eventually tearing more or 
less along the lines of the folds. Flowers minute, borne in a large pan¬ 
icle enclosed by a spathe. Fruit a berry, drupe or nut.—The Palm Family, 
represented by about 1200 species in the warm regions of the earth, is 
one of the most important families of seed plants; the economic value of 
