  | Typhaceae: Answers to key questions in
    Budd's Flora  leading to this family. 
     
        | 
         plants not aquatic, or if growing in
        water, most of the plant emersed; NOT [plants aquatic, floating or
        submerged, with floating leaves or emersed inflorescence]  |  
        | 
         inflorescence a dense, single,
        cylindrical spike 8-15 cm long, 1-2.5 cm thick; NOT [inflorescence not
        as above; if a single spike, less than 1 cm thick]  |  
        | 
         spike bractless; NOT [spike subtended by
        a large bract or spathe]  |  
        | 
         spike not fleshy  |  
        | 
         perianth absent or inconspicuous; NOT
        [perianth present, conspicuous, in two series of 3 segments, often
        brightly colored]  |  
     
   |