178 TEASEL FAMILY. 



3. PEDIA, CORN SALAD, LAMB-LETTUCE. (Origin of the name 

 obscure. ) Our species are all very much alil^e in appearance, smooth, with 

 forking stems 6' -20' high, tender oblong leaves either entire or cut-lobed 

 towards the base, and small flowers in clusters or close cymes, with leafy 

 bracts, and a short white or whitish corolla, in early summer. They 

 belong to the section (by most botanists regarded as a separate genus) 

 Valeeianella. (D ® 

 F. olitdria. Common Corn Salad of Eu., sparingly naturalized in 



the Middle States, has fruit broader than long, and a thick corky mass at the 



back of the fertile cell. 

 P. Fagopyrum, from New York W. in low grounds, has ovate-triangular, 



smooth fruit shaped like a grain of buckwheat when dry (whence the specific 



name), the confluent empty cells occupying one angle, and much smaller than 



the broad and flat seed. 

 P. radi^ta, common from Penn. and Michigan S., has fruit mostly downy 



and somewhat 4-angled, the parallel narrow empty cells contiguous but with 



a deep groove between them. 



60. DIPSACE^, TEASEL FAMILY. 



Differs from the preceding family by having the flowers strictly 

 in heads, surrounded by an involucre, as in the next family, — from 

 which it differs in the separate stamens, hanging seed, &c. All 

 are natives of the Old World. 



1. DIPSACUS. Coarse and stout herbs, with stems and midrib of leaves often 



prickly, and the heads with rigid prickly-pointed bracts or chaff under each 

 flower, under the whole a conspicuous leafy involucre. Each flower more- 

 over has an involucel in the form of a little calyx-like body enclosing the 

 ovary and akene. Calyx continued beyond the ovary into a mere truncate 

 short cup-like border. Corolla slender, with i 'short lobes. Stamens 4. 

 Style slender. 



2. SCABIOSA. Less coarse, not prickly; the short heads surrounded by a softer 



green involucre ; a short scale or soft bristle for a bract under each flower. 

 Corolla funnel-form, 4 - 5-oleft, oblique or irregular ; the outer ones often 

 enlarged. Stamens 4. Style slender. Involucel enclosing the ovary and 

 the calyx various. 



1. DIPSACUS, TEASEL. ( Name from Greek word meaning to tAsVsi; the 

 united bases of the leaves in the common species catch some rain-water.) 

 Fl. summer. 



D. sylv6stris. Wild T. Hun wild along roadsides, 4° -.5° high, prickly, 

 with lance-oblong leaves, the upper ones united round the stem, large oblong 

 heads, purplish or lilac corollas, and slender-pointed straight chaff under each 

 flower. ® 



D. fullduum. Fuller's T. Less prickljr than the other, with involucre 

 hardly longer than the flowers, the awn-like tips of the rigid chaff hooked at 

 the end, which makes the teasel useful for carding woollen cloth : cultivated in 

 fields for this purpose, sometimes escaping into waste places and roadsides. ® 



2. SCABIOSA, SCABIOUS. (From Latin word for scurfy, perhaps from 

 use of the plants to cure skin-diseases. ) Fl. summer. One European species 

 is commonly cultivated for ornament, viz. 



S. atropurpiirea. Sweet S., or when with dark purple or crimson 

 flowers called Mourning Bkide ; the flowers are sometimes rose-colored or even 

 whiter plant l°-2° high, with obovate or spatulate and toothed root-leaves, 

 pinnately-parted stem-leaves, the cup or involucel enclosing the ovary 8-grooved, 

 calyx proper with 5 long bristles surmounting the akene ; the outer corollas 

 enlarged. (J) 



