DIPSACACE^.. 



521 



with hairs. The leaves are opposite, penninerved, dentate or pinnatifid, 

 connate at the base, which is dilated to a large membranous horn 

 concave above J The flowers are united in terminal capitules, ovoid 

 or oblong, nearly globular 



in one species, D. piloSllS, ScaUosa atropurpurca. 



of which has been made 

 a genus Galeclragon.^ The 

 thick axis of these capi- 

 tules bears numerous 

 jracts, alternate, imbri- 

 cate, often rigid at the 

 summit; and each flower,^ 

 furnished with an involu- 

 cel, occupies the aril of 

 one of these bracts. Often 

 those in the middle or at 

 the top of the inflores- 

 cence expand before those 

 at the base.^ The ten or 

 twelve species^ of the 

 genus inhabit Europe, 

 temperate Asia and most 

 regions of north-eastern 

 Africa. 



Scahiosa (fig. 41 5-422) 

 has nearly the flowers of 

 Dipsams, having a shorter 

 corolla tube and more 

 open limb with four or 

 five lobes more unequal 

 and more developed as the flowers approach the base of the inflo- 



Fig. 415. Floriferous and fructiferous branch. 



» 



1 In this the rain-water collects, and the inte- 

 rior surface produces movable and retractile 

 processes which Mr. F. Darwix has recently 

 made a special object of study and which are 

 said to be formed of protoplastic matter. 



2 Gray, Arr. Brit. PI. ii. 475. (This species 

 connects Bipsacm with Scabiosa and has also 

 been referred to Ctphalaria.) 



3 Blue, whitish or lilac. 



* The blooming generally begins in the form 



of a ring near the middle of the inflorescence or 

 lower, and thence proceeds upwards and down- 

 wards. 



« jAca. FL Ausfr. t. 248, 402, 403.-Tkatt. 

 Tabul. t. 235.— Reichb. Icon. FL Germ. t. 704- 

 707.— Wight, III. t. 130 j Icon.i. 1166.— Kl. 

 TFaldem. Reis. Bot. t. 84.— Boiss. F\ Or. iii. 85. 

 — WiLLK. et Lang. Prodr. Fl. Hisp. ii. 12. — 

 GiiEN. et Genu. Fl. de Fr, ii. 67.— W^lp. Hep, 

 ii. 532 : Ann. ii. 802. 



