Branched Burr Reed

Sparganium lucidum Fernald & Eames, Rhodora 9 : 87. 1907
Sparganium simplex androcladum Engelm.; A. Gray, Man. ed. 5. 481, in part. 1867.
Perennial, with a rootstock ; stem erect, stout, 7-10 dm. high ; leaves strongly carinate, 3-6 dm. long, 5-12 mm. wide, firm, dark-green; inflorescence simple or somewhat branched; branches or heads axillary; bracts ascending, 2.5-4 dm. long; branches bearing one pistillate and sometimes 1-4 staminate heads, the main axis bearing 2-4 sessile pistillate and 6-10 staminate heads ; sepals spatulate, two thirds as long as the achenes, rounded or truncate, slightly erose at the apex ; fruiting heads about 3 cm. in diameter ; achenes olive-brown, shining; stipe short, about 1 mm. long; body fusiform, about 8 mm. long; beak 3-4 mm. long; stigma linear, 2.5-3.5 mm. long.
Type locality : Medford, Massachusetts.
Distribution : Ponds and streams, from Massachusetts and New York to Missouri and Illinois.

Sparganium androcladum (Engelm.) Morong, Bull. Torrey
Club IS : 78. 1888.
Sparganium americanum I&11. Bot. S. C. & Ga. 2 : 521. 1824. Not 5. americanum Nutt. 1818. Sparganium ramosum Chapm. Fl. S. U. S. 443. 1860. Not S. ramosum Huds. 1778. Sparganium simplex androcladum Engelm.; A. Gray, Man. ed. 5. 481. 1867. Sparganium simplex androgyna Meinsh. Mel. Biol. Acad. St. Petersb. 13 : 387. 1893. Sparganium americanum androcladum Fernald & Karnes, Rhodora 9 : 87. 1907.
Perennial, with a rootstock ; stem 3-10 dm. high, erect; leaves dark-green, triangular at the base, 5-10 dm. long, 5-12 mm. wide; bracts similar but barely concave at the base, slightly dilated and narrowly if at all scarious-margined ; inflorescence branched, with branches or peduncles axillary; lower branches usually with a single (sometimes no) pistillate head and 3-7 staminate ones, usually strongly geniculate ; sepals with dilated claws, two thirds as long as the achenes, their blades cuneate and erose at the apex ; fruiting heads 2-2.5 cm. in diameter ; achenes stipitate, brown, dull, their bodies fusiform, 5-6 mm. long, 3 mm. thick, terete or obtusely angular, often constricted at the middle ; stipe and beak each about 3 mm. long ; stigma linear, about 2 mm. long ; anthers linear-oblong, about 1 mm. long and one fourth as thick.
Type locality : New England.
Distribution : Shallow water, Newfoundland to Florida, Alabama, and Minnesota.