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In this article we will discuss about:- 1. Characters of Typhaceae 2. Distribution of Typhaceae 3. Economic Importance 4. Affinities.
Characters of Typhaceae:
Herb tall of marshy places, perennial, leaves erect, linear, distichous, thick and spongy; flowers monoecious, minute, densely crowded in cylindrical bracteate spikes; perianth of 5 hair or O; male flower with stamens 2-5, filament capillary, anther erect, bi-celled; female flower – ovary 1, unilocular; fruits nutlets; seeds endospermic.
A. Vegetative characters:
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Habit:
Aquatic or marshy, perennial herbs occurring in ponds, ditches, lakes on river banks.
Root:
Adventitious, fibrous.
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Stem:
Rhizome – long, creeping, thick, clothed.
Leaf:
Scale leaves in two lateral rows on the rhizome, in their axils arise aerial shoots bearing two-ranked foliage leaves with narrow, linear, thin and spongy, more or less twisted lamina and sheathing leaf-base. The lower leaves reduced to long sheaths represent a transitory stage between the aerial and scale leaves on the rhizome.
B. Floral characters:
Inflorescence:
Spike, bearing yellow male flowers above and brownish female flowers below, often intermixed with hair-like bracteoles with dilated tips.
Flower:
Small, unisexual, each subtended by one caducous bract-like spathe and enclosed by hairs or scales which according to some botanists represent reduced perianth.
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Male flower:
Perianth:
Represented by 3 or 6 hair-like outgrowth free, inferior or absent (Typha minima).
Androecium:
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Stamens two to five or reduced to one, e.g., Typha minima, variously monadelphous; anthers basifixed, linear, connective long, projecting beyond the anthers; pollen grains simple or in tetrads.
Female flower:
Perianth:
As in male flower but represented by many one-celled hair.
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Gynoecium:
Bracteate or ebracreate, e.g., Typha latifolia; carpel one, unilocular with a single, pendulous ovule; gynophore long beset with numrous hairs which help in the dispersal of fruit; style capillary with a narrow or ligulate stigma, clavate tipped, pistillodes frequent among the flowers in some species.
Fruit:
An achene.
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Seed:
Endospermic, small.
Pollination:
Anemophilous.
Distribution of Typhaceae:
Small family of monotypic genus – Typha and with 15-20 species, which are distributed both in temperate and tropical regions.
Economic Importance of Typhaceae:
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1. Medicinal:
The root stock of T. angustata is astringent and diuretic. The down of the ripe fruit of T. elephantina is used as an application to wounds and ulcers, which acts as a medicated cotton. The root stocks are used in measels, dysentery and gonorrhoea. The stamens and pollen grains of T. laxmanni are astringent and styptic.
2. General:
The leaves of T. elephantina are used for thatching. The leaves of T. latifolia are used to manufacture baskets, mats, and seats of chair. According to Cook (1958) the flowers of T. angustata are used in the preparation of a yellow cake called Bur and is eaten by the natives all over Sind area.
Affinities of Typhaceae:
Bentham and Hooker placed the family in the series Nudiflorae while Engler and Rendle placed it in series Pandanales. According to Engler and Rendle it is the first and most primitive in the Monocotyledons because of simple unisexual flowers consisting of one for few essential organs; where as Hutchinson placed it in separate order Typhales with Sparganiceae after Arales, he regards Typhales as very reduced order derived from Liliaceae on parallel line with Araceae. Typhaceae has some affinity with Araecae.
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Common plant of the family:
1. Typha elephantina – growing in marshes.
2. T. angustata – gregarious, found throughout India.
