118 DIPSACEtE 



1. Teasel {Dlpsacm). 



1. Wild Teasel [D. sylvesfris). — Leaves opposite, united at the base, 

 undivided ; scales of the receptacle straight at the extremity. Plant biennial. 

 In many of our woods, during the winter months, there is scarcely an object 

 more conspicuous than the chaffy bristly heads of this Wild Teasel. 

 Hundreds of them, standing up on stout prickly stems nearly six feet high, 

 may be seen, looking so like the brooms used in cleansing ceilings, that we 

 wonder not to hear the cottager call the plant Wood-broom ; while another 

 country name, Shepherd's Staff, is not inappropriate. The large leaves, 

 united at their base around the stem, form a hollow, which serves to hold 

 the rain or dews, and sometimes we have found as much as half a pint of 

 clear liquid deposited in this leafy cup, in which many a luckless insect lay 

 drowning. To some lover of classic lore, this circumstance suggested the 

 names by Avhich it is still often called, Venus's Bath, or Venus's Cup. The 

 thirsty traveller, during July, might be glad to avail himself of the refresh- 

 ment of this liquid but for the presence of these insect carcases, and in early 

 times it was collected to serve as a cosmetic, and as a cure for inflamed eyes. 

 It may be well to point out that this arrangement of the leaves, whereby 

 the stem is surrounded by water, is designed to protect the flowers from 

 ants and other creeping honey-robbers, who would otherwise climb the stem 

 and spoil the flowers Avithout rendering the plant any service. It has 

 recently been found that the plant renders this water slightly digestive, and 

 that certain cells of the leaf send out hair-like processes into it through 

 which the digested insect-matter is absorbed to nourish the plant. 



The larva of a small insect which infests the head of the Teasel is said, 

 by Lemery, to be of much use in the cure of intermittent fevers. This insect 

 was long considered to " charm " away agues ; and Gerarde tells us of charms 

 used for the cure of this malady, which may make us thankful for the 

 improvement of medical science. "It is needlesse," he says, "here to alledge 

 those things that are added touching the little wormes found in the head of 

 the Teazel, and which are to be hanged about the neck, for they arc nothing 

 else but most vaine and trifling toies, as myselfe have proved a little before 

 the impression hereof, having a most grievous ague, and of long continuance. 

 Notwithstanding physick charmes, these wormes hanged about my necke, 

 spiders put into a walnut-shell, and clivers such foolish toies that I was con- 

 strained to take by fantasticke people's procurement ; notwithstanding, I say, 

 my helpe came from God Himselfe, for these medicines, and all other such 

 things, did me no ^ood at all." Even in our own days, some of these 

 practices have been used ; for Kirby and Spence relate that nine of these 

 larvse, inclosed in a goose-quill or reed, are commonly worn for agues. 



The flowers of the Teasel are to be seen in July, growing on the large 

 conical heads. They are of purplish lilac colour, not expanding all at once, 

 but in rings. 



2. Fuller's Teasel (D. fuUdnum). — Leaves sessile, undivided; scales of 

 the receptacle hooked at the extremity ; involucres spreading, or turning 

 downwards ; root biennial. The chief difference between this and the fore- 

 going species consists in the hooked bristles, but the flowers are also generally 



