I.] DIP3ACE.E. 173 



" nap " to woollen cloth, by raising the fine fibres of the 

 fabric to the surface by means of the pungent bracts : 

 the connate leaves of Common Teasel, which collect the 

 rain and dew that trickle down the stem. 



FIG. 115. Vertical section of a fruit of Field Scabious, showing the calyx- 

 tube enclosed in an involucel. The limb of the calyx is multipartite. 



The species of Dipsaceas are easily distinguished from 

 Composites by their free anthers, and the pendulous 

 ovule. 



37. Natural Order Composite. The Composite 

 Family. 



DISTRIBUTION. Numerous in every quarter of the 

 globe, especially in the Tropics, where a large proportion 

 is shrubby or arborescent. British genera 40, species 113. 



Herbs. Flowers (florets) capitate. Stamens 5, syngenesious. 

 Ovary I -celled, inferior ; ovule erect. 



Types Spear Thistle (Carduus lanceolatus\ or Dande- 

 lion (Taraxacitm Dens-leonis). 



The former an erect herb, with alternate pinnatifid 

 prickly leaves, and terminal prickly globose flower-heads 

 of purple florets ; the latter with radical runcinate leaves, 

 and a hollow radical peduncle (scape), bearing a solitary 

 head of bright yellow florets. 



