COMPOSITE. 155 



1. DIPSACUS. Tourn. Teasel. 



Gr. dipsao, to thirst, alluding to the water held iu the axils of the leaves. 



Flowers id heads. Involucre many-leaved ; longer than 

 the chaffy, leafy-tipped, pointed bracts among the capitate 

 flowers. Calyx superior. Corolla tubular, 4-cleft, nearly 

 regular. Stamens 4, inserted on the corolla. Fruit 

 1 -seeded, crowned with the calyx. — Stout and coarse bienni- 

 als, hair// and prickly, loith opposite, connate (sometimes dis- 

 tinct) leaves, and bluish or whitish flowers in large oblong 

 heads. 



1. D. sylvestris, Mill. Wild Teasel 



Leaves lance-oblong, toothed, or the uppermost entire, connate; leaves of the in- 

 volucre slender, longer than the head of tlowers. 



Naturalized fay hedges and roadsides. Aug. Native of Europe. Stem 3 to 4 feet 

 high, angled and prickly with the opposite and lanceolate leaves united around it 

 Bracts (ehaff) tapering into a long flexible awn with a straight point. Flowers 

 bluish, in a large oval or cylindrical head. 



2. D. FULLONUM, L. Fuller s Tease 7 . 



Leav.s connate, entire or serrate; heads of Jloicers cylindrical; tracts hooked, 



involucre spreading. A cultivated European plant, used by the clothiers who em. 



ploy I p. ,i the hard, booked scales to raise the nap upon wojlen cloth, 



irrow'ei, prickly, hollow, about 5 feet high. Leaves 2 at each node- 



: at their bases around in such a way as to hold a quantity of water. Flow 



crs whitish, in large oval or ovoid heads. July. 



2. SCABIOSA. Linn. 



Lat. scabies, leprosy; said to bo useful in cutaneous diseases. 



Calyx 5-parted divisions long, bristly, sometimes partial- 

 ly abortive. Involucre many-leaved. Involucel nearly 

 cylindrical with 8 little excavations. — Biennial and perennial 

 mostly European herbs, with opposite leaves and showy flowers 

 in heads. 



1. S. succisa, L. Devils -bit. 



Root premorse; stem leaves remotely toothed; hea/ls of flowers nearly globose; 

 corolla in 4 o-jual segments. Cultivated in gardens. Stem 1 foot high. Corolla 

 palo violet. Sept. 



2. S. atropurpurea, L. Mourning Bride. 



Leavzt pinnatifid and incised; heads of flowirs radiant; receptacle cylindrical; 

 outer crown of the, seed short, lobed and crenate. A handsome species, 2 to 4 feet 

 high, with dense heads of dark purple, pink, and whitLsh flowers. Sept. 



Order 58. COMPOSITE. 



An immense family, chiefly hirbs in lempzrate regions, without stipules with perfect, 

 polygamous, monoecious or dioecious flowers. Flowers in close heads (the compound 



