TEASEL FAMILY. 219 



oblong leaves either entire or cutrlobed towards the base, and small 

 flowers in clusters or close cymes, with leafy bracts, and a short white 

 or whitish corolla, in early summer. @ 



V. olitdria. Poll. Corn Salad. Corolla bluish ; fruit broader than 

 long, and a thick corky mass at the back of the fertile cell. Eu. ; cult, 

 and sparingly naturalized. 



V. cbenopodiidlia, DC. Corolla whitish ; fruit ovate-triangular, 

 mostly smooth, shaped like a grain of buckwheat when dry, the confluent 

 empty cells occupying one angle, and much smaller than the broad and 

 flat seed. N. Y., W. and S. 



V. radi^ta, Dufr. Corolla whitish ; fruit mostly downy and some- 

 what 4-angled, the parallel, narrow, empty cells contiguous, but with a 

 broad, shallow groove between them. Penn. and Mich. S. 



LX. DIPSACE^, 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, hang- 

 ing seed, etc. All are natives of the Old World. 



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



and the heads with rigid prickly-pointed bracts or chaff under each flower, under the 

 whole a conspicuous leafy involucre. Each flower has an involucel in the form of a 

 little calyx-like body inclosing' 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 inclosing the ovary and the calyx various. 



1. DIPSACUS, TEASEL. (Greek: to thirst; the united bases of the 

 leaves in some species catch rain water.) Flowers summer. 



D. sylvestris, Mill. Stem 4°-5° high, prickly, with lance-oblong leaves, 

 the upper ones united round the stem ; heads large, oblong ; corollas pur- 

 plish or lilac ; slender-pointed, straight chaff under each flower. @ 

 Along roads. 



D. Fullbnum, Linn. 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 teasel useful for carding 

 woollen cloth ; cultivated in central N. Y. for this purpose, sometimes 

 escaping into waste places and roadsides. @ 



2. SCABIOSA, SCABIOUS. (Latin name.) Flowers summer. One 

 European species is commonly cultivated for ornament, — 



S. atropurpurea, Linn. Sweet S. Or when with dark purple or crimson 

 flowers, called Mourning Bride ; the flowers are sometimes rose-colored 

 or even white ; plant l°-2° high, with obovate or spatulate and toothed 

 root leaves, pinnately-parted stem leaves, the cup or in''olucel inclosing 

 the ovary 8-grooved, calyx proper with 6 long bristles surmounting the 

 akene : outer corollas eulareed. (i) 



