TEAZEL TRIBE 



145 



1. DiPSACUS (Teazle). — Stems erect, angular, opposite ; leaves 

 usually joined round the stem ; flower-heads usually elongated with 

 an involucre of stiff, spreading bracts, and the bracts between the 

 flouts prominent, rigid awns. (Name from the Greek, dipsao, I 

 thirst, the leaves being united at their base, so as to form round the 

 stem a hollow in which water collects. This little moat round the 

 stem is a provision of Nature, to prevent insects crawling up to the 

 flowers to rob them of the honey which attracts flying insects who, 

 in a round of visits, unconsciously distribute the pollen from flower 

 to flower and effect cross fertilization.) 



2. SCABIOSA (Scabious). — Plants not prickly ; flower-heads hemi- 

 spherical or flattened, with an involucre of bracts beneath ; corolla 

 4 or 5-lobed ; ovary with a cup-shaped border, with 4-10 bristles. 

 (Name from the Latin, scabies, the leprosy, for which disease some 

 of the species were supposed to be a remedy.) 



r. DiPSACUS {Teazle) 



1. D. sylveslris (Wild Teazle). — Leaves 

 opposite, united at the base and forming 

 a cup ; bristles of the receptacle not 

 hooked. A stout herbaceous plant 3-6 

 feet high, with an erect prickly stem, 

 large bright green leaves, which are 

 prickly underneath and united at the 

 base, and often contain water. The 

 flowers grow in large conical, bristly 

 heads, the terminal bristles being gene- 

 rally the longest. The flowers them- 

 selves are light purple, and expand in 

 irregular patches on the head. Waste ; 

 places ; common. — Fl. July. Biennial. 



2. D. Fullonum (FuUer's Teazle). — 

 Differs from the above in having the 

 bristles of the receptacle hooked ; it is 

 probably a variety of D. sylveslris, and 

 is not considered a British plant, though 

 occasionally found wild in the neighbour- 

 hood of the cloth districts. 



3. D. pilosus (Small Teazle). — Leaves 



stalked, with a small leaflet at the base on each side. Smaller 

 than D. sylveslris in all its parts, and having more the habit of a 

 Scabious than of a Teazel. The flowers are white and grow in 

 smaU, nearly globose bristly heads ; the whole plant is rough with 

 bristles. Moist, shady places ; not common. — Fl. August, Septem- 

 ber. Biennial. 



DiPSACUS Sylvesiris 

 (Wild Teazle) 



