107 WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND BLOSSOMS. 



Wild Teasel (Dipsacus sylvestris). 



We have explained (page 98) in what respect the Scabious 

 differs from the somewhat similar flowers of Composite, and 

 to a considerable extent that explanation will hold good for the 

 genus Dipsacus, which is united to Scabiosa in the Natural 

 Order Dipsaceae. There is this difference, however : in 

 Dipsacus the flower-bracts end in long, straight, sharp points, 

 and the involucel is four-angled. There are two British 

 species : 



I. Wild Teasel (D. sylvestris). A striking object in copse or hedgerow ; its 

 stout, angular and spiny stems rising to a height of 4 or 5 feet, and crowned by 

 the prickly-cylindrical heads of flowers. These heads have an involucre, consisting 

 of from eight to twelve slender rigid bracts, spiny, longer than the flower-head, 

 curved upward and ending in a fine point. The corolla is purple, tubular, with four 

 short unequal lobes. It is a biennial plant, and only has radical leaves during its 

 first year, sending up the flowering stem the second season. These are stalked, 

 lance-shaped, with a stout mid-rib, which is armed with short curved spines. The 

 stem- leaves are opposite, not stalked, the lower couples joined together by iLeir 

 bases, thus forming a large cup, in which rain collects and drowns many insects that 

 attempt to ascend the tall stem. Flowers August and September. The Fuller's 

 Teasel (D.fullomtni), of so great importance to the cloth manufacturer, is believed 

 to be a cultivated variety of sylvestris, having the involucral bracts shorter and 

 spreading, and the scales of the flower-heads hooked. 



II. Small Teasel (D. pilosiis}. This is a more slender plant, the stem not so tall 

 or stout, and the prickles ending in soft hair-points. Leaves stalked, hairy. Flower- 

 heads at first drooping, then erect ; smaller, rounder, hairy, the involucral bracts 

 shorter than the head. Flowers white. August and September, in moist hedges ; 

 not so generally distributed as sylvestris. 



