116 PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



ORDER 184. DIPSACE^E. The Scabious Tribe. 



In this order, the flowers form a head or tuft, aggregated into a 

 mass more or less dense, and surrounded with calyx-like leaves, 

 called an involucre, while the proper, inner calyx is connected 

 with the germ, and bears the corolla inserted towards its top. 



Dipsacus. L. 4. 1. Teasel. 

 Named from the Greek, to thirst, on account of the water, which 

 is commonly found in the axils of the leaves, and which has been 

 considered a cosmetic. Loudon. 



D. sylvestris. L. Wild Teasel. Grows 2-5 feet high, 

 branching, bearing large terminal heads of flowers ; chaff stiff and 

 straight, and leaves opposite, and nearly growing together at the 

 base ; blossoms in July ; in light soil, in Sheffield, Berkshire 

 County. Whoever has travelled on the Great Western Canal in 

 midsummer to October, must have remarked the abundance of this 

 plant along the banks of the canal west of Utica, for more than 

 100 miles. It is supposed that it was introduced from England. 



D. fullonum. L. Fuller's Teasel. Cultivated for the sake 

 of the heads, which are used for raising the nap on cloth, by 

 means of the hooked chaff of the mature head ; leaves opposite. 

 The plant is usually a profitable culture. A native of Britain. 



ORDER 186. COMPOSITE. The Compound Flowers. 



This is a natural and large assemblage of plants, having com- 

 pound flowers, formed of many florets in one head or mass, and 

 stands on a broad base or receptacle, surrounded by a leafy invo- 

 lucre, and having the anthers of the 5 filaments united in a tube. 

 Thistle, Dandelion, Mayweed, Burdock, are well known instan- 

 ces. The calyx, if there is any, adheres to the seed, and often 

 terminates upwards in a membrane, or chaff, bristle, horn, hair, 

 or the like ; the corolla is simply tubular, or else ligulate or strap- 

 like, long and flat, as in the Sunflower, or funnel-shaped, and, in 



