178 



TKASEL FAMILY. 



3. FEDIA, CORN SALAD, LAMB-LKTTl'CE. (Origin of the name 

 obscure.) Our spcejes an- all very much alike in appearance, smooth, with 

 forking stem- ti'-^o' high, tender oblong leaves either entire <>r cut-lob.-d 

 towards the ba-e, and small fl. .\vcrs in clusters or close evmes, with leafy 

 I.raets, and a .-hurt white or whitish corolla, in early "Miimner. They 

 belong to the section (by must botanists regarded as "a separate, genus) 

 VALEKIAXKLLA. (T) @ 



F. olitdria, COMMON- CORN SALAD of Eu., sparingly naturalized in 

 the Middle States, has fruit broader than long, and a thick corkv mass at tho 

 back of the fertile cell. 



F. Fagopyrum, from New York W. in low grounds, has ovate-triangular 

 smooth fruit shaped like a grain of buckwheat when dry (whence the specific 

 name), the confluent empty cells occupying one angle, and much smaller than 

 the broad and flat seed. 



F. radiata, common from Penn. and Michigan S., has fruit mostly downy 

 and somewhat 4-angled, the parallel narrow empty cells contiguous but with 

 a deep groove between them. 



60. DIPSACE.S3, TEASEL FAMILY. 



Differs from the preceding family by having the flowers strictly 

 in heads, surrounded by au involucre, as in the next family, from 

 which it differs in the separate stamens, hanging seed, ice. All 

 are natives of the Old World. 



1. DIPSACUS. Coarse and stout herbs, with stems and midrib of leaves often 



prickly, and the heads with rigid prickly-pointed bracts or chaff under eacli 

 flower, under the whole a conspicuous leafy involucre. Each flower more- 

 over has an involved in the form of a little calyx-like body enclosing the 

 ovary and akene. Calyx continued beyond the ovary into a mere truncate 

 short cup-like border. Corolla slende'r, with 4 short lobes. Stamens 4. 

 Style slender. 



2. SGABIOSA. Less coarse, not prickly; the short heads surrounded by a softer 



green involucre; a short scale or soft bristle for a bract under eac'h flower. 

 Corolla funnel-form, 4-5-cleft, oblique or irregular; the outer ones often 

 enlarged. Stamens 4. Style slender, liivolucel enclosing the ovary and 

 the calyx various. 



1- DIPSACUS, TKASKL. (Xame from Greek word meaning to thirst; the 

 united ba-es of the leaves in the common species catch some rain-water.) 

 FI. summer. 



D. sylv^Stris, WILD T. Hun wild along roadsides, 4 -5 high, prick! v, 

 with lance-oblong leaves, the upper ones united round the stem, lanre oblong 

 heads, purplish or lilac corolla-, and slender-pointed straight chaff under each 

 flower. 



D. ful!6num, FKF.I.KK'S T. Less prickly than the other, with involucre 

 hardly longer than the (lowers, the awn-like tips of the rigid chaff hooked at 

 the end, which makes the l.<ix<l useful for carding woollen cloth : cultivated in 

 fields for this purpose, sometimes ex-aping into waste places and roadsides. 



2. SCABIOSA, SCABIOrs. (From Latin word for scurfy, perhaps from 



use of the plants to cure, skin-diseases.) Fl. summer. One European species 

 is commonly cultivated for ornament, vi/.. 



S. atropurpiirea, SWI-.KT S., or when with dark purple or crimson 



flower- called Mori:\i\<; UKIDK ; the (lowers are sometimes rose-colored or even 

 uhite: plant 1- 2 high, with obovate or spatulatc and toothed root-leaves, 

 pinnatcly-parted stem-leaves, the cup or involucel enclosing the ovarv 8-grooved, 

 calyx proper with 5 long bristles surmounting the akene ; the outer corollas 

 enlarged. @ 



