178 TEASEL FAMILY. 



3. FEDIA, CORN SALAD, LAMB-LETTUCE. (Origin of the name 

 obscure.) Our species are all very much alike in appearance, smooth, with 

 forking stems 6' -20' high, tender oblong leaves either entire or cnt-lobed 

 towards the base, and small flowers in clusters or close cymes, with leafy 

 bracts, and a short white or whitish corolla, in early "summer. They 

 belong to the section (by most botanists regarded as a separate genus) 

 VALERIAXELLA. @ 

 P. Olitdria, COMMON CORN SALAD of Eu., sparingly naturalized in 



the Middle States, has fruit broader than long, and. a thick corky mass at the 



back of the fertile cell. 



P. Pagopyrum, from New York W. in low grounds, has ovate- triangular 



smooth fruit shaped like a grain of buckwheat when dry (whence the specific 



name), the confluent empty cells occupying one angle, and much smaller than 



the broad and flat seed. 



P. radiata, common from Penn. and Michigan S., has fruit mostly downy 



and somewhat 4-anglcd, the parallel narrow empty cells contiguous but with 



a deep groove between them. 



60. DIPSACE^I, TEASEL FAMILY. 



Differs from the preceding family by having the flowers strictly 

 in heads, surrounded by an involucre, as in the next family, from 

 which it differs in the separate stamens, hanging seed, &c. All 

 are natives of the Old World. 



1. DIPSACUS. Coarse and stout herbs, with stems and midrib of leaves often 



prickly, and the heads with rigid prickly-pointed bracts or chafl' under each 

 flower, under the whole a conspicuous leafy involucre. Each flower more- 

 over has an involucel in the form of a little calvx-like body enclosing the 

 ovary and akene. Calyx continued beyond the ovary into a mere truncate 

 short cup-like border. Corolla slender, with 4 short lobes. Stamens 4. 

 Style slender. 



2. SCABIOSA. Less coarse, not prickly; the short heads surrounded by a softer 



green involucre; a short scale or soft bristle for a bract under each flower. 

 Corolla funnel-form, 4-5-cleft, oblique or irregular ; the outer ones often 

 enlarged. Stamens 4. Style slender. Involucel enclosing the ovary and 

 the calyx various. 



1. DIPSACUS, TEASEL. ( Name from Greek word mean ing to thirst- the 

 united bases of the leaves in the common species catch some rain-water.) 

 Fl. summer. 



D. sylv^stris, WILD T. Run wild along roadsides, 4 -5 high, prickly, 

 with lance-oblong leaves, the upper ones united round the stem, large oblong 

 heads, purplish or lilac corollas, and slender-pointed straight chaff under each 

 flower, (a) 



P. fullbnum, FULLER'S T. Less prickly than the other, with involucre 

 hardly longer than the flowers, the awn-like tips of the rigid chaff hooked at 

 the end, which makes the teasfl useful for carding woollen cloth : cultivated in 

 fields for this purpose, sometimes escaping into waste places and roadsides. @ 



2. SCABIOSA, SCABIOUS. (From Latin word for *r/J/, perhaps from 

 use of the plants to cure skin-diseases.) Fl. summer. One European species 

 is commonly cultivated for ornament, viz. 



S. atropurptirea, SWEET S., or when with dark purple or crimson 

 flowers called MOUKNING BRIDE ; the flowers are, sometimes rose-colored'or even 

 white: plant 1- 2 high, with obovate or spatulato. and toothed root-leaves, 

 pinniuely-partert stem-leTves, the cup or involucel enclosing the ovary 8-grooved, 

 c:\lyx proper with 5 l:>ng bristles surmounting the akcne ; the outer corollas 

 enlared. 



