432 



EXOGENOUS OR DICOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS. 



odor, have a somewhat bitter, acrid taste, and are antispasmodic 

 and vermifugal. The Valerian of the shops is chiefly derived 

 from Valeriana officinalis of the South of Europe. It produces a 

 peculiar intoxication in cats. The roots of V. edulis are used for 

 food by the aborigines of Oregon. The Spikenard of the ancients, 

 esteemed as a stimulant medicine as well as a perfume, is the root 

 of Nardostachys Jatamansi of the mountains of the North of India. 







810. Ord, DipsaceSB (the Teasel Family). Herbs, with opposite 

 or whorled sessile leaves, destitute of stipules. Flowers in dense 

 heads, which are surrounded by an involucre. Limb of the adnate 

 calyx cup-shaped and entire or toothed, or forming a bristly or 

 plumose pappus. Corolla tubular ; the limb four- or five-lobed, 

 somewhat irregular. Stamens four, distinct, or rarely united in 

 pairs, often unequal, inserted on the corolla. Ovary one-celled, 

 one-ovuled. Seed suspended, albuminous. Ex. Dipsacus, the 

 Teasel, and Scabiosa, or Scabious. All natives of the Old World. 

 Some are cultivated for ornament. Teasels are the dried heads of 

 Dipsacus Fullonum, covered with stiff and spiny bracts, with re- 

 curved points. 



FIG. 763. Branch of Fedia Fagopyrum. 764. A magnified flower. 765. A fruit. 766. An 

 enlarged cross-section of the same, and the cotyledons of the seed in the single fertile cell : the 

 two empty cells are confluent into one. 



FIG. 767. Flower of a Valerian, with one of the pappus-like bristles of the calyx unrolled. 

 763. Section through the ovary and embryo; the bristles of the calyx broken away. 



