178 TEASEL FAMILY. 



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

 obscure.) Our species arc all very much alike 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) 

 Valerianella. (1) ® 

 p. Olitdria, Common Corn Salad of En., sparingly naturalized in 



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



back of the fertile cell. 



F. Fagopjrrum, from New York W. in low grounds, has ovate-tnangular 



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. 

 F. radiata, 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. DIPSACKffi!, 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 4 short lobes. Stamens 4. 

 Style slender. 



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



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

 Corolla funnel-form, 4-5-Gleft, 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 «AiVs(; the 

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

 El. summer. 



D. sylv^stris, Wild T. Run wild along roadsides, 4°-.")° high, prickly, 

 with lanco-oblong leaves, the npper ones united round the stem, large oblong 

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

 flower. (D 



D. full6num, Eullbr's T. Less prickly than the other, with involucre 

 hardly Ioniser 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. (D 



2. SCABlbSA, SCABIOUS. (Erom Latin wor* for sour/T/, perhaps from 

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

 is commonly cultivated for ornament, viz. 



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

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

 white: plant l°-2° high, with obovatc or spatnlate and toothed root-leaves, 

 pinnately-parted stem-loaves, the cup or involucel enclosing the ovary 8-grooveil, 

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

 enlarged. ® 



