VALERIANACEJE. (VALERIAN FAMILY.) 
183 
(Name of uncertain derivation.) — Our species all have the limb 
of the calyx obsolete, and are so much alike in aspect, flowers, 
&c., that good characters are only to be taken from the fruit. 
1. F. olitoria, Vahl. Fruit compressed , oblique, at length 
broader than long, the cross section elliptical, with a corky or spongy 
mass at the back of the fertile cell nearly as large as the (often conflu¬ 
ent) empty cells; flowers bluish.—Fields, Penn.? and southward; 
introduced from Europe. — Plant 4'— 10 f high. Also called, like the 
other species, Lamb-Lettuce. 
2. F. Fagopyrum, Torr. & Gr. Fruit ovate-triangular , 
smooth, not grooved between the (at length confluent) empty cells, which 
form the anterior angle^ and are much smaller than the broad and flat 
fertile one; flowers white.—Low grounds, W. New York to Ohio 
and Michigan. May, June. — Plant 1° - 2P high. 
3. F. radiata, Michx. Fruit ovoid, downy (rarely smooth), 
obtusely Sind unequally somewhat 4-angled; the empty cells parallel 
and contiguous but with a deep groove between them,rather narrower 
than the flattish fertile cell. — Low grounds, Ohio and Michigan, and 
southward. 
4. F. umbilicata, Sulliv. Fruit globular-ovate, smooth ; the 
much inflated sterile cells wider and many times thicker than the flattish 
fertile one , contiguous, and when young with a common partition, 
when grown, indented with a deep circular depressions the middle 
opening Into the confluent sterile cells; bracts not ciliate. Moist 
grounds around Columbus, Ohio, SuUivant. (Sill. Jour., Jan. 1842.) 
5. F. patellaria, Sulliv. Fruit smooth, circular, platter-shap¬ 
ed or disk-like, slightly notched at both ends, the flattened-concave 
sterile cells widely divergent, much broader than the fertile one and 
forming a kind of wing around it when ripe. — Low grounds, Colum¬ 
bus, Ohio, SuUivant : now first described. — Plant 1°— 2P high, resem¬ 
bling the last, but with a very different fruit. 
Order 55. DIPSACE^E. (Teasel Family.) 
Herbs , with opposite or whorled leaves , no stipules, and 
the flowers in dense heads , surrounded by an involucre , as 
in the Composite Family ; but the stamens are distinct , and 
the suspended seed has albumen. — Represented by the Sca¬ 
bious (cultivated) and the following genus. 
I. D1PSACIJS, Tourn. Teasel. 
Involucre many-leaved, longer than the chaffy, leafy-tipped, and 
pointed bracts among the densely capitate flowers : each flower 
