522 



NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



rescence. In the very irregular corollas of the cu'cumference, the 

 anterior lobe is the largest and covers the lateral lobes generally more 



Scabiosa atropnrpurea. 



Fig. 417. Fruit (f). 



Fig. 416. Corolla and 

 stamens. 



Fig. 418. Long. sect, 

 of fruit. 



Scabiosa integrifolia. 



Scabiosa 



[Asterocephalus) 



columbaria. 



Fig. 419. Fruit, with 

 involucel laid open. 



Fig. 420. Fruit, 



surrounded by 



involucel. 



developed than the one or two posterior which they overlap in the bud. 

 The stamens are four in number, alternating with the divisions of the 

 corolla, the posterior being ab- 

 sent. They are herbaceous plants, 

 sometimes shrubby at the base, 

 inhabiting all the temperate re- 

 gions of the old world except 

 Oceania. The flowers, each sur- 

 rounded by a saclike involucel 

 which persists around the fruit, 

 are grouped in terminal capitules, 

 ovoid or globular, or depressed. They are protected 

 by an involucre the bracts of which are foliaceous in 

 the true Scahiosas, and rigid, more or less dry or setaceous-acuminate 



in those called Cephalaria. The bracts 

 under each flow^er higher up on the re- 

 ceptacle present analogous characters. 

 In the true Scahiosas they are generally 

 narrow, short, or may even disappear 

 altogether. The involucel is very vari- 

 able in the different sections of the 

 genus (fig. 417-422), as to form, the 

 ribs or furrows which it bears, the 

 number and configuration of the lobes 

 or teeth into which its orifice is divided. 

 There is also great variation in the form, size and number of the 



Scabiosa {Succisa) uralensis. 



Fig. 421, Fruit 



surrounded by 



involucel. 



Fig. 422. Fruit, 



with involucel 



laid open. 



