176 DIPSACEJE. (TEASEL FAMILY.) 



a rather short tube to the corolla, the limb of wh'ch is nearly regular, 

 and therefore belong to the section (by many botanists taken as a genus) 

 Valerianella. 



1. F. OLIT&RIA, Vahl. Fruit compressed, oblique, at length broader than 

 long, with a corky or spongy mass at the back of the fertile cell nearly as large as the 

 (often confluent) empty cells; flowers bluish. — Fields, Penn. to Virginia: rare. 

 (Adv. from Eu.) 



2. F. Fag"OpyrMIIl, 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, 

 from Western New York to Wisconsin and Kentucky. May, June. — Plant 

 l°-2° high. 



3. F. radiitta, Michx. Fruit ovoid, downy (rarely smooth), obtusely and 

 unequally somewhat A-angled; the empty cells parallel and contiguous, but with a 

 deep groove between them, rather narrower than the flattish fertile cell. — Low 

 grounds, Penn. to Michigan, and southward. — Plant 6' -15' high. 



4. F. UinbiSiCata, 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 

 depression in the middle, opening into the confluent sterile cells ; bracts not cili- 

 ate. — Moist grounds, Columbus, Ohio, Sullivant. (Sill. Jour., Jan. 1842.) 



5. F. patellai'ia, Sulliv. Fruit smooth, circular, platter-shaped or disk- 

 like, slightly notched at both ends, the flattened-concave sterile cells widely diver- 

 gent, mucli broader than the fertile one, and forming a kind of wing around it 

 when ripe. — Low grounds, Columbus, Ohio, Sullivant. — Plant l°-2° high, 

 resembling the last, but with a very different fruit. 



Order 58. DIPSACE^. (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 sta?nens are distinct, and the suspended seed has albumen. — Represented 

 by the Scabious (cultivated) and the genus 



1. DIPSACIS, Toum. Teasel. 



Involucre many-leaved, longer than the chaffy leafy-tipped and pointed bracts 

 among the densely capitate flowers : each flower with a 4-leaved calyx-like in- 

 volucel investing the ovary and fruit (achenium). Calyx-tube col lerent with 

 the ovary, the limb cup-shaped, without a pappus. Corolla nearly regular, 

 4-cleft. Stamens 4, inserted on the corolla. Style slender. — Stout and coarse 

 biennials, hairy or prickly, with large oblong heads. (Name from Sn//ao>, 

 to thirst, probably because the united cup-shaped bases of the leaves in some 

 species hold water.) 



1. D. sylvestris, Mill. (Wild Teasel.) Prickly ; leaves lance-oblong; 

 leaves of the involucre slender, longer than the head; bracts (chaff) tapering 



