350 DIPSACEAE. 



Family 100. VALERIANACEAE. 



Valerian Family. 



Herbs with opposite exstipulate leaves, and usually 

 small perfect or polygamous flowers, in corymbed, 

 panicled or capitate cymes. Calyx-tube adnate to 

 the ovary, its limb inconspicuous or none in flower, 

 becoming prominent in fruit. Corolla epigynous, some- 

 what irregular, its tube narrow, sometimes gibbous or 

 spurred at base; h*mb spreading, mostly 5-lobed. Sta- 

 mens 1-4, inserted on the corolla and alternate with its 

 lobes. Ovary inferior, 1-3-celled, 1 of the cells con- 

 taining a single suspended ovule, the others empty. 

 Fruit indehiscent, dry, containing a single suspended seed. 



1. PLECTRITIS DC. 



Annual herbs with simple or rarely with very slender 

 branches and usually entire leaves, the cauline com- 

 monly sessile. Flowers small, borne in glomerules at 

 the end of the stem or branches, or the glomerules in 

 interrupted or dense spikes. Calyx-limb obsolete. Co- 

 rolla usually pink, more or less bilabiate, spurred or 

 gibbous at base. Wings of the fruit commonly incurved 

 and forming a circular hollow or cavity on the side. 



1. P. macrocera T. & G. Slender, 1-2 dm. high; leaves linear or 

 narrowly oblong; corolla about 2 mm. long; the spur longer than 

 the tube; fruit more or less hispid, dorsally carinate; the carina 

 2-grooved; lateral wings broad, each with a more or less obvious 

 lobe at apex, spreading or incurved. ( Valeria?iella macrocera 

 Gray; P. congesta minor Hook.) 



Occasional on shady hillsides. March. 



Family 101. DIPSACEAE. Teasel Family. 



Herbs with opposite or verticillate exstipulate leaves. 

 Flowers perfect, borne on an elongated or globose recep- 

 tacle, bracted and involucrate. Calyx-tube adnate to 

 the ovary, its limb cup-shaped or disk-shaped, or divided 

 into spreading bristles. Corolla epigynous, the limb 2-5- 

 lobed. Stamens 2-4, inserted on the tube of the corolla 



