Scabiosa.] * DIPSACEAE. 251 



* VALERIANELLA, Tourn. 



Calyx-limb toothed or 0. Corolla funnel-shaped, 5-lobed, not spurred. 

 Stamens 3, rarely 2. Stigma simple or 3-fid. Fruit compressed, grooved, 3-celled, 

 2 of the cells empty and sometimes confluent, forming a single empty cell, the other 

 1-seeded. Annual or biennial dichotomously-branched herbs, with rather succulent 

 delicate leaves and solitary or cymose heads of small bracteate flowersj 



* V. olitoria, Poll., Hist. PI. Palat. i. 30. Annual, erect, glabrous, much 

 branched, 3in.-6in. high. Leaves entire or toothed, linear-oblong ; cauline partly 

 amplexicaul. Cymes capitate ; bracts leafy, entire or toothed. Flowers minute, 

 lilac. Fruit glabrous or pubescent, obliquely rhomboidal ; empty cells at length 

 confluent ; fertile cell corky on the back. 



NORTH Island : naturalised in grassy places, but local. Auckland : East Cape, &e. LoMb's 

 lettuce. Sept., Oct. Europe, &c. 



Oedee-* DIPSACEAE. 



Calyx-tube adnate with the ovary ; limb entire, lobed or ciliate. Corolla nearly 

 regular, cylindric, obtusely 4-5-lobed ; lobes imbricate in bud, the anterior latger and 

 overlapping. Stamens 4, inserted on the corolla-tube ; filaments often uiiequal. 

 Ovary 1-celled, with 1 pendulous anatropous ovule. Style filiform ; stigma simple. 

 Fruit indehiscent, invested by the indurated involucel and often crowned by the 

 calyx-limb. Seed pendulous ; testa membranaceous ; endosperm fleshy ; embryo 

 straight, with a short radicle and broad flat cotyledons. Coarse or stout, hairy or 

 prickly, biennial or perennial herbs, with opposite exstipulate leaves and eapitate 

 involucrate heads of small bracteolate flowers. 



* DiPSACus. Erect, prickly, or hairy, with apinesoent floral bracts. 



* ScABiosi. Erect or spreading, smooth or hairy. Floral bracts reduced to scales or 0. 



* DIPSACUS, Linn. 



Calyx-limb discoid or cupular, lobed. Corolla nearly regular, unequally 4-eleft. 

 Stamens 4. Style slender ; stigmas dilated. Stout biennial hairy or prickly herbs, 

 with angular stems and large oblong or cylindric heads of small flowers having an 

 involucre of large spreading bracts at the base, and each flower invested by a 4-angled 

 involucel of exserted spinous floral braces. 



* D. Sylvestris, Mill., Qard. Diet. ed. viii. n. 1. Brectj 2ft.-5ft. high. 

 Stems stout, angular, prickly. Leaves lanceolate-oblong, sessile ; cauline leaves 

 5in.-8in. long, the uppermost connate at the base. Heads 2in.-4in. long; bracts 

 rigid, narrow-linear, exceeding the head. Floral bracts long, strict, subulate, ciliate. 

 Involucel pubescent. Flowers purple. Calyx-limb caducous. 



NORTH Island : plentifully naturalised in many localities, btit rather local. Teasel. Feb. 

 March. Europe. 



* SCABIOSA, Linn. 



Calyx-tube included in the angular truncate or lobed involucel, contracted at 

 the mouth ; hmb cupular, with 4-10 teeth, each tooth a rigid bristle. Corolla oblique 

 or 2-lipped, curved ; lobes 4-5, obtuse. Stamens 4. Style filiform ; stigma small, 

 notched. Flowers in hemispherical or depressed heads, wdth the involucral bracts 

 1- or 2-seriate. Receptacle depressed or elongated, hairy or with scaly floral bracts, 

 the outer flowers sometimes rayed and larger than the inner. Perennial herbs^ with 

 entire or pinnatifid leaves. 

 Branches spreading, hairy. Leaves pilose. Involucel 4-furrov?ed . . . . * S. arvensis. 



Branches erect, glabrous. Involucel 8-furrowed . . . . . . . . * S. maritima. 



28* 



