﻿VALERlANACEiE. 



Order LXXV. DIPSACEiE. Vaill ; DC. 



Tube of the calyx adherent to the ovary, or sometimes free except 

 at the summit ; the limb various, sometimes forming a hairy or plu- 

 mose pappus. Corolla tubular; the hmb 5-cleft, or 4-cIeft by the 

 union of the two superior lobes ; the inferior lobe larger and overlap- 

 ping the others in aestivation. Stamens 4, inserted into the corolla 

 towards its base (the posterior one suppressed), distinct, or rarely with 

 the filaments united in pairs : anthers introrse : pollen tetraha;dal. 

 Ovary 1 -celled, with a single suspended ovule : style filiform : stigma 

 simple or 2-lobed. Fruit membranaceous or acheniform, indehiscent, 

 crowned with the limb of the calyx, 1-celled, 1-seeded. Seed anatro- 

 pous, with a very thin testa which often coheres with the pericarp. 

 Embryo nearly the length of the fleshy albumen.— Herbs or suffrutes- 

 cent plants (none of them natives of America) ; with opposite or 

 verticillate sessile leaves, without stipules. Flowers aggregated in a 

 dense involucrate head upon a common receptacle (rarely in dense 



at the base by a very short closely appressed monophyllous in^ ohicel ; 

 the corolla of the exterior flowers often radiant. 



1. DIPSACUS. Tourn. ; Linn. ; Gcertn. Jr. t. 86 ; Coult. Dips. j^. 21, 

 /. 2-4, 4- in DC.prodr. 4. p. 6D5. 



foliaceous and acuminate chaff of the receptacle. Involucel 4-sided, closely 



