TEAZLE FAMILY 243 



flated, occurs rarely on banks, but is not native. — Fl. April — 

 June. Annual. 



4. V. rimbsa (Sharp-fruited Corn-salad). — About a foot high, 

 more slender than V. olitbria ; -flowers solitary in the forks of a 

 loose cyme, pale blue ; fruit sub-globose, crowned by 1 erect 

 tooth, with its barren chambers inflated and larger than the fer- 

 tile one, which is not corky. — Cornfields; rare. — Fl. June — 

 August. Annual. 



5. V. dentdta (Toothed Corn-salad). — Similar to the last; leaves 

 much toothed towards the base ; flowers flesh-coloured ; fruit not 

 inflated, crowned with the same unequally 4-toothed calyx. — Corn- 

 fields and banks ; common. — Fl. June — August. Annual. 



Ord. XL. DipsacejE. — The Teazle Family 



A small Order of herbaceous plants inhabiting temperate 

 regions, and possessing no remarkable properties. The leaves are 

 generally opposite and exstipulate, and the flowers, like those of 

 the Composites, are crowded together in heads with an involucre 

 of bracts ; but each flower is also surrounded by a calyx-like 

 involucel of several more or less rigid bracteoles. The calyx is 

 superior, expanding into a cup-shaped tube generally with a 

 pappus ; corolla tubular, with 4 — 5 unequal lobes ; stamens 4, 

 epipetalous, not united ; fruit dry, indehiscent, 1 -seeded. The 

 most striking distinction between the members of this and those 

 of the following Order is the 4 free stamens is each flower, or 

 floret, as it is often called. Dipsacus Fullbnum is the Fuller's 

 Teazle, a plant with large cylindric heads of flowers, which are 

 embedded in stiff, hooked bracts. These heads are set in frames 

 and used in dressing broad-cloth, the hooks catching up and 

 removing all loose particles of wool, but giving way when held 

 fast by the substance of the cloth. This is almost the only 

 process in the manufacture of cloth which it has been found 

 impossible to execute by machinery ; for although various 

 substitutes have been proposed, none has proved on trial exactly 

 to answer the purpose. 



1. DfpsACUS. — Inner bracts spinous and prominent, forming 

 rigid awns all over the head. 



2. Scabi6sa. — Inner bracts inconspicuous scales or hairs; 

 common receptacle cylindric. 



3. KNAtjTiA. — Common receptacle hairy, hemispherical. 



1. DfpsACUS (Teazle). — Erect prickly plants; stems angular; 

 leaves usually connate at the base ; heads usually elongated ; with 

 a columnar common receptacle; stiff spreading involucral bracts ; 

 R 2 



