American Bur Reed

Sparganium americanum Nutt. Gen. 2 : 203. 1818
Sparganium simplex Wood, Class Book ed. 2. 523. 1847. Not S. simplex Huds. 1778.
Sparganium simplex Nuttallii Bngelm.; A. Gray, Man. ed. 5. 481. 1867.
Sparganium angustifolium Graebner, in Bugler, Pflanzenreich 4™ : 16, in part. 1900. Not 6.
angustifolium Michx. 1803. Sparganium americanum Nuttallii Graebner, loc. cit. as a synonym. 1900. Sparganium Nuttallii Engelm.; Graebner, loc. cit. as a synonym. 1900. Sparganium simplex americanum Farwell, Ann. Rep. Mich. Acad. Sci. 6 : 202. 1904.
Perennial, with a rootstock and numerous roots at the base of the stem ; stem stout, 3-7 dm. high ; leaves deep-green, carinate, 3-10 dm. long, 6-12 mm. wide, more or less scarious-margined below ; lower bracts similar, but shorter, ascending, more or less dilated and scarious-margined below ; inflorescence usually simple, all heads sessile or the lower pistillate' ones pedicelled, axillary, the latter sometimes on strict (not geniculate) branches bearing 1-2 staminate heads above ; staminate heads at the end of the stem 3-10 ; fruiting heads 2-2.5 cm. in diameter ; blades of the sepals cuneate-obovate, erose at the apex, gradually tapering into the broad claws; body of the achenes fusiform, brown, dull, 5-6 mm. long, 2-3 mm. thick; stipe 2-3 mm. long; beak 2-3 mm.; stigma oblong.seldom over 1 mm. long; anthers oblong, about 1 mm. long and one fourth as wide.
Type locality : Vicinity of Philadelphia.
Distribution : Bogs and muddy shores, from Nova Scotia to South Carolina, Indian Territory,