COMPOSIT.E. (COMPOSITK FAMILY.; 215 



Ordkr 52. DIPSACE.'E. (Tkaskl Family.) 



Herbs, witli opposite or tchor/ed leaves, no stipules, and the flowers in dense 

 heads, surrounded by an involucre, as in the Composite Funiily ; but the sta- 

 mens are distinct, and the suspended seed has albumen. — Represented by 

 the Scabious (cultivated) and the genus 



1. DIPSACUS, Tourn. Teasei- 



InvohicTC maiiy-lcavi'd, lonj^er than tlie chaffy Icafy-tippcd and pointed bracts 

 amon^ the (k-nsdy capitate Ho\vor.>( : cm\\ tlower with a 4-lcaved calyx-like in- 

 voluccl investin},^ the ovary and fruit (aclicniuni). Ciilyx-tubc coherent with 

 the ovary, the limb cup-.shapcd, without a pappus. Corolla nearly regular, 

 4-clcft. Stamens 4, inserted on the corolla, t^tyle slender. — Stout and coarse 

 biennials, hairy or priekly, with large oblong heads. (Name from 5(^da>, 

 to thirst, probably because the united cup-shaj)cd bases of the leaves in some 

 species hold water.) 



1. D. SYLVESTRis, Mill. ( W I'D Tkasel. ) Prickly ; Icavcs lancc-oblong ; 

 leaves of the involucre slender, longer than the head ; bracts (chart) tapering 

 into a long fle.xiblc awn with a straight jwint. — Roadsides : rather rare. (Nat. 

 from Eu.) Susjx:cted to be the original of 



'2. D. Fllloxum, L., the cultivated Fi;i.ler's TEASKi^.wbich has a shorter 

 involucre, and stifJ" chaff to the heads, with hooked points, used for raising a 

 nap upon woollen cloth : it has escaped from cultivation in some places. (Adv. 

 from Eu.) 



OuDEu 53. COItlPOSIT.E. (Composite Family.) 



Flowers in a close head (tlie compound flower of the older botanists), 

 on a common receptacle, surrounded by an involucre, with 5 (rarely 4) 

 stamens inserted on the corolla, their anthers united in a tube (synyenesious). 

 — Calyx-tube united with the 1-celled ovary, the limb (called a. pappus) 

 crowning its summit in the form of bristles, awns, scales, teeth, &c., or 

 cup-shaped, or else entirely absent. Corolla either strap-shaped or tubu- 

 lar ; in the latter chielly 5-lobed, valvat« in the bud, the veins bordering 

 the margins of the lobes. Style 2-cleft at the ape.x. Fruit seed-like 

 (achenium), dry, containing a single erect "aiiatropous seed, with no albu- 

 men. — An immense family, in temperate regions chiefly herbs, without 

 stipules, with perfect, polygamous, monoecious, or di<rcious flowers. The 

 flowers with a strap-shaped (liyulate) corolla are called rays or ray-Jlotc- 

 ers: the head which presents such flowers, either throughout or at the 

 margin, is radiate. The tubular flowers compose the disk ; and a head 

 ■which has no ray-flowers is said to be discoid. When the head contains 

 two sorts of flowers it is saitl to be hflcrdyamous : when oidy one sort, 

 homdyamous. The leaves of the involucre, of whatever form or texture, 

 are termed scales. The bracts or scales, which often grow on the recep- 



