DIPSACE.-E. 



251 



" This plant is so named," says an old writer, " because, with this root the Devil 

 practised such power, that the Mother of God, out of compassion, took from the Devil 

 the means to do so with it any more j and in the great vexation that he had, that 

 the power was gone from him, he bit It off, so that it grows no more to this day." 

 later writers explain the peculiar bitten-off appearance of the plant, by the suppo- 

 sition that the medicinal and healing powers it possesses are so distasteful to the 

 Father of Evil, that he in spite bites off the end of the plant. " Unhappily," says 

 Sir J. E. Smith, " this malice has been so successful, that no virtues can now be 

 found in the remainder of the root or herb." It is, however, very astriugent, and its 

 use has been suggested as a tanning material. On the continent it has been used as a 

 green and yellow dye. 



Sub-Genus II.— ASTEROCEPIIALUS. Reich. 



Clinanth with soft scales, and surrounded by a polyphyllous 

 pericline. Involucel with 8 furrows ; limb scarious, cupshaped 

 or funnel-shaped, minutely toothed and plaited. Calyx-limb ter- 

 minating in 5 long setaceous spreading bristles. Corolla 5-cleft, 

 radiant. 



SPECIES II.— SCABIOS A COLUMBARIA. Linn. 

 Plate DCLXXVIII. 



Reich. Ic. Fl. Germ, et Helv. Vol. XII. Tab. DCXCIII. Fig. 1378. 



)•,', lot. Fl. Gall, et Germ. Exsicc. No. 254. 



Asterocephalus columbarius, Reich. Fl. Germ. Excurs. p. 195, et Ic. I. c 



Rootstock perennial, not premorse. Leaves oblanceolatc or 

 obovate, the radical ones shortly stalked, undivided and crenate or 

 sublyrate-pinnatifid or bipinnatifid ; stem-leaves generally deeply 

 pinnatifid, the upper ones with strapshaped or linear-strapshaped 

 segments. Anthodes radiant, convex in flower, globular or globular- 

 ovoid in fruit. Leaves of the involucre (pericline) strapshaped, 

 in a single row. Limb of the involucel membranous, spreading, 

 half as long as the fruit. Calyx-teeth spreading, as long as or 

 slightly longer than the tube when in fruit, persistent. Corolla- 

 limb 5-lobed, with the lobes unequal, especially in the exterior 

 flowers which are conspicuously radiant. 



On dry banks and pastures, and local. Common on chalky 

 soils, and pretty generally distributed in the South and East of 

 England. Rare in Scotland, where it occurs in Berwickshire, 

 Haddingtonshire, and Forfarshire. 



England, Scotland. Perennial. Late Summer 

 and Autumn. 



