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uses. It is a striking-looking plant, growing from 

 four to six feet high with a straight stem and 

 opposite leaves, which have the peculiarity of 

 uniting at the base so as to form a cup-shaped 

 receptacle, holding nearly half a pint of clear water. 

 Into this liquid small insects fall and become decayed ; 

 the wind also blows dust and dead leaves into the 

 water, so that in time it becomes rich in organic 

 matter. This is absorbed by the plant, and tends 

 to nourish and strengthen its growth. 



These leaf-basins also 

 serve another purpose. It 

 is necessary that the flowers 

 should be fertilised only by 

 winged insects, and there 

 seems little doubt that the 

 water retained at the base 

 of the leaves tends to 

 isolate the central stem, 

 and thus snails, slugs, and 

 ants are prevented from 

 crawling up to the flowers. 



The common cow parsnip 

 has huge inflated sheaths 

 at the base of its leaves, which contain water, both to 

 nourish and protect the flowers in a similar manner. 



I have not met with the smaller species called 

 fuller's teasel (Dipsacus fullonuui}. It is cultivated 

 in some parts of England, and very extensively abroad 

 in France, Austria, and other parts of Europe. 



I read in the Treasury oj Botany that in 1859 

 we imported from France nearly nineteen million 

 teasel-heads, valued at five shillings a thousand. 

 The bristly seed-vessels are employed by manu- 



TEASEL. 



