196 



is called, on account of these properties, Herbe du Diable in St. Domingo. 

 'As garden plants, nearly the whole of the order is much prized for beauty, 

 particularly the Statices, many of which are among the most lovely herba- 

 ceous plants we know. 



Examples. Statice, Armeria, Taxanthema, Plumbago, ^gialitis, Voge- 

 lia, Theta. 



CLXXXIV. DIPSACEiE. The Scabious Tribe. 



DiPSACEiE, Juss. Gen. 194. (1789) ; Dec. et Dnhy Bot. Gall. 255. (1828) ; lAvdl. Synops. 

 139. (1829); Coulter Mem. in Act. Genev. 2. 13. (1823). 



Diagnosis. Monopetalous dicotyledons, with an inferior 1-celled ova- 

 rium, capitate flowers, distinct anthers, and albuminous pendulous seeds. 

 Anomalies. Ovarium sometimes partly superior. 



Essential Character — Ca/y^ superior, membranous, resembling pappus ; sur- 

 rounded by a scarious involucellum. Corolla monopetalous, tubular, inserted in the calyx ; 

 limb oblique, '4- or 5-lobed, with an imbricated aestivation. Stamens usually 4 or 5, alter- 

 nate with the lobes of the corolla; anthers distinct. Ovarium inferior, 1-celled, with 

 a single pendulous ovulum ; style 1 ; stigma simple. Fruit dry, indehiscent, 1-celled, 

 crowned by the pappus-like calyx ; embryo straight, in the axis of fleshy albumen ; radicle 

 superior Herbaceous plants or under-shrubs. Leaves opposite or whorled. Flowers col- 

 lected upon a common receptacle, and surrounded by a many-leaved involucrum. 



Affinities. The relation of this family is obviously in the first degree 

 with Compositse, from which it differs in its distinct stamens and its pendu- 

 lous albuminous seeds ; and next with Calycereae, which have connate an- 

 thers and alternate leaves. But if we compare it with Caprifoliaceae, differ- 

 ent as it is in habit, we shall find very little beyond the capitate flowers and 

 the presence of an involucellum to distinguish it absolutely. The same cha- 

 racter of the capitate flowers, and the presence of albumen, forms the distinc- 

 tion between Dipsacese and Valerianese. What is called the involucellum is 

 a curious organ, resembling an external calyx, and is to each particular flower 

 of the head of Dipsacese what the partial involucrum of Umbellifera; is to 

 each partial umbel ; and, accordingly, we ought to expect to find instances 

 of more flowers than one being enclosed within this involucellum ; and this 

 is said by Coulter actually to take place in the genus Gundelia. This is, 

 however, not the only peculiarity of the order. Mr. Brown has the following 

 curious remarks. 



" M. Auguste Saint Hilaire, in his excellent memoir on Primulaceae, 

 while he admits the correctness of M. DecandoUe's account with respect to 

 great part of Dipsacese, has at the same time well observed, that in several 

 species of Scabiosa the ovarium is entirely united with the tube of the calyx. 

 But neither of these authors has remarked the curious, and I believe pecu- 

 liar, circumstance, of the base of the style cohering with the narrow apex of 

 the tube of the calyx, even in those species of the order in which the dilated 

 part of the tube is entirely distinct from the ovarium. This kind of partial 

 cohesion between pistillum and calyx is directly opposite to what usually 

 takes place, namely, the base of the ovarium being coherent, while its upper 

 is distinct. It equally, however, determines the apparent origin or insertion 

 of corolla and stamina, producing the unexpected combination of ' flos 

 superus' with ovarium ' libenim.'" Linn. Trans. 12. 138. 



Geography. Chiefly natives of the south of Europe, Barbary, the 

 Levant, and the Cape of Good Hope ; not affecting particular stations in 

 any striking degree, except that they generally shun cold, and do not attain 

 much elevation above the sea. Coulter. 



