DIPSACACEAE. 341 



Valerianella samolifolia (DC.) Gray. Stems erect, 10-30 cm. high; leaves 

 oblong or oblong-obovate, obtuse, 2-5 cm. long; flowers in small cymes; 

 bracts entire and subulate, or the upper ones palmately 3-parted; corolla 

 white, obscurely 2-lipped; spur short; fruit wingless, 3-angled, 2 mm. long, 

 glabrous or pubescent. 



In moist ground, rare, Vancouver Island to California; also in Chile. 



Family 97. DIPSACACEAE. TEASEL FAMILY. 

 Herbs; leaves opposite or whorled, without stipules; flowers 

 in dense heads, surrounded by an involucre as in the Compositae; 

 calyx-tube adherent to the ovary; corolla epigynous, 2-5-lobed; 

 stamens 2-4, distinct on the corolla-tube and alternate with its 

 lobes; ovary inferior, 1-celled; ovule 1; fruit an akene with 

 persistent calyx-lobes; endosperm fleshy. 



475. DIPSACUS. TEASEL. 



Rough-hairy or prickly tall biennial or perennial herbs; leaves 

 large, opposite, the bases sometimes united into a cup; flowers 

 in dense terminal peduncled oblong heads; bracts of the involucre 

 and scales of the receptacle rigid or spiny-pointed; calyx 4- 

 toothed or lobed; corolla oblique, 2-lipped, 3-lobed; stamens 4; 

 stigma oblique or lateral; akene free from or adherent to the 

 involucel. 



Dipsacus sylvestris Huds. Biennial, 1-2 m. high, the stems and midribs 

 armed with stout prickles; lower leaves lanceolate, obtuse, crenate, rarely 

 cleft at base, 15-30 cm. long; upper leaves sessile, often cuneate, acuminate, 

 entire; heads ovoid, becoming cylindric, 5-10 cm. long; involucre of linear 

 cuspidate prickly bracts, some of which are longer than the head; bracts of 

 the receptacle ovate, armed with long straight awns; flowers lilac. 



Sparingly introduced. 



Family 98. CUCURBITACEAE. GOURD FAMILY. 



Mostly succulent herbs with tendrils; leaves alternate, pal- 

 mately lobed or veined; flowers dioecious or monoecious; calyx- 

 tube adhering to the ovary; stamens 5 or usually 3, then 2 with 

 a 2-celled and 1 with a 1-celled anther, usually united by their 

 anthers, sometimes also by their filaments; stigmas 2 or 3; ovary 

 1-3-celled; fruit a pepo, fleshy or sometimes membranaceous. 



476. MICRAMPELIS. 



Tall climbing annual vines nearly smooth, with forked tendrils; 

 leaves thin; flowers very numerous, small, greenish-white, 

 monoecious, the staminate in compound racemes, the pistillate in 

 small clusters or solitary from the same axils; petals 6, Ian- 



