406 Oedbb 69.— DlPSACEiE. 



calyx. — @ Plants stout, prictly. Lvs. opposite, connate (sometimes 

 distinct) at base. Heads oblong, the middle zone of florets first ex- 

 panding. (Fig. 206.) 



1 D. sylvestris Mill. "Wild Teasel. Lvs. connate, sinuate or jagged; hda. 

 cylindrical; iracts of the involucre longer than the heads of fls., slender and 

 pungent, bent inwards ; chaff of the receptacle pungent, riot hooked. — A tall, this- 

 tle-lilce plant, growing in hedges and by roadsides, Mass, to Ind. St. about 4f 

 high, angled and pricky, with the opposite, lance-shaped lvs. united around it. 

 Hs. bluish, in a large oval, or cylindrical head whose bracts are not hooked, as 

 in the next species, but straight. Jl. § Eur. 



2 D. Pulldnum L. Fuller's Teasel. Lvs. connate, entire or serrate ; hd. 

 cylindrical; bracts hooked; invol spreading. — Gardens. Rt. fleshy, tapering. St. 

 erect, farrowed, prickly, hollow, about 5f high. Lvs. 2 at each node, united at 

 their bases around the stem in suoli a way as to hold a quantity of water. Fig. 

 whitish, in large oval or ovoid heads. Cultivated for the use of the clothiers 

 (fuUonum) who employ the heads with their hard, hooked scales to raise the nap 

 upon woolen cloths. Jl. | Bur. 



2. SCABIO^SA, L. Scabish. (Lat. scabies, leprosy ; plants said to 

 cure cutaneous diseases.) Flowers, in heads ; involucre many-leaved ; 

 involucel nearly cylindrical, with 8 little excavations ; calyx limb con- 

 sisting of 5 setae, sometimes partially abortive. — 2t Large, mostly Euro- 

 pean herbs with opposite lvs. 



1 S, sucoisa L. Devils'-bit. Rt. premorse ; st. lvs. remotely toothed, hds. 

 of fls. nearly globous ; cor. in 4 equal segments. — In gardens, tiiough rarely cul- 

 tivated. The stem is about If high. Corolla violet. \ Eur. 



2 S. atropurpiirea L. Moubnotg Bride. Lvs. piunatifid and incised, hds- 

 of fls. radiant; receptacle cylindrio ; outer crown of the seed short, lobed and 

 crenate. — A. beautiful species, 2 to 4f high, with dense heads of purple fls. f 

 Native country unknown. 



Order LXX. COMPOSIT.^. Astbrworts. 



Plants herbaceous or shrubby, with compound flowers (of the old botanists) i. e., 

 Uie flowers in dense heads (oapitula) surrounded hy an involucre of many iracts (scales), 

 with 5 united anthers and the fruit an achenium (cypsela). Leaves alternate or oppo- 

 site, exstipulate, simple, yet often much divided. Fls. (florets) oo, crowded, sessile, 

 on the receptacle with or without pales (chaff). Gal. adherent, the limb wanting or 

 divided into bristle.s, hairs, etc. (pappus). Cor. tubular, of 5 lobes with a marginal 

 vein, often ligulate or bilabiate. Stam. 5, alternate with the lobes of the corolla, 

 anthers cohering into a tube. Ov. 1-ceUed, with 1 erect ovule ; stylo single with 2 

 stigmas at summit. Fr. a cypsela (§ 557), dry, indehisoeut, l-seeded, often crowned 

 with a pappus. 



Illustrated in fl2,s. 55, 113, 141, 142, 146, 146, ITO, 192, 193, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 824, 828, 829, 

 J30. 881, 882, 383, 864, 819, 416, 484. 



Oenera 1000 (H-niore, species 9000? the most extensive and the most natural of all the Phtcn- 



famous Orders, always distinguished at sight by the capitate flowers and the niiited anthers, 

 t comprehends nearly one-ninth of all the species of flowering plants. The general inflores- 

 cence is centrifugal, tliat is, the central or termin.al heads are first developed, while the inflor- 

 escence of the heads is centripetal, the outer flowers first expanding. In color the flowers are 

 various; sometimes those of the disk and ray are of different colors, asain they are all of the 

 the same, but in the former case the disk florets are almost always yellow. 



This immense order Is diffused throughout all countries of the globe, but in very different 

 proportions. According to Humbolt, they constitute about one-seventh of the Pha^nogamons 

 Flora of Germany, one-eighth, of Prance, one-flfteenth, of Lapland, one-sixth, of North Aiiieriea 

 (north of Mexico), and one-half, of Troplcil America. In New Holland they are in the propor- 

 tion of about one-sixteenth, according to Brown, while in the island of Sicily they are one-half. 

 The LigulifliiriB are said to be most abundant in cold regions, and the Tnbuliflorse iih(it regions. 

 The LabiatiflorjB are almost exclusively confined to South America. In the northern parts of 

 the world the Oomposltffi .are univers.illy herbaceous, but towiirds the tropics they gradually 

 become frutescent and oven trees. In Chili they are generally shrubs, and on the isliind of St 

 Helena they are trees. 



Properties, <fec.— The CompositiE furnish comparatively few useful products. A bitter prin- 

 ciple pervades the whole, which, when combined wltih rosin and astringent mulilagc, becomes 



