220 THE VALERIAN FAMILY. [ Valerianella. 
occupy the centre, with a somewhat corky mass on one side, and an empty — 
cell on the other. 
A native of fsouthern Europe, often “cultivated for salad, and now a 
common weed in waste places and cornfields in central Europe. Not 
unfrequent in various parts of the British Isles. FV. spring and summer, 
2. VW. carinata, Lois. (fig. 487). Meeled Cornsalad.—Closely re- 
sembles V. olitoria in everything but the fruit, which is ovoid, not com- 
pressed laterally, but rather from front to back, without any corky mass at 
the back of the seed, and the empty cell in front is not closed in, but open, 
in the shape of a little cup-shaped appendage. 
More abundant than V. olitoria in most parts of continental Europe, 
but much less frequent in England, I have not met with it in cultivation, 
although so similar in foliage. FU. spring and summer. 
3. VW. Auricula, DC. (fig. 488). Sharp-fruited Cornsalad.—Stems 
generally more erect than in the last two species, the branches not proceed- 
ing from so near the base, more slender and wiry; the leaves small and 
narrow, the cymes small and not so compact, often with single flowers in 
the forks of the stem, and the bracts small and narrow. Fruit broadly 
ovoid, scarcely compressed, crowned by the'little green oblique border of 
the calyx. On being cut across, it shows one small cell occupied by the 
seed, and two somewhat larger empty ones. 
In cornfields and waste places, widely spread over central and southern 
Europe and western Asia. Not unfrequent in Britain, and perhaps truly 
indigenous. £72. summer. 
4, V.dentata, Poll. (fig. 489). Narrow-fruited Corn-salad.—Habit 
and foliage precisely those of V. Auricula, and the fruit is in the same 
manner crowned by the oblique border of the calyx, but the fruit is narrower, 
slightly compressed from front to back, and the ‘seed occupies the entire 
cavity without any empty cells; these are represented by two longitudinal 
ribs on the inner face of the fruit, which, when examined under the 
microscope, will be found to be hollow. 
The geographical range appears to be the same as that of V. Auricula, 
with which it is often confounded, Fl. summer. It varies in its fruits 
more or less hairy, and the calyx-border sometimes cup-shaped, nearly as 
long as the fruit, and scarcely oblique, which form has been distinguished 
as a species, under the name of V’. eriocarpa, Desv. 
—= 
XLIT. DIPSACEAL, THE THASEL FAMILY. 
Herbs or undershrubs, with opposite leaves, and no stipules. 
Flowers collected into compact heads or spikes, surrounded by 
a common involucre, with scales or hairs on the receptacle be- 
tween the florets, as in Composite, but each floret is moreover 
inserted in a small involucel having the appearance of an outer 
calyx, sometimes tubular, and completely enclosing the ovary ; 
sometimes cup-shaped at its base. Calyx combined with the 
ovary, with an entire or toothed border; the teeth often termi- 
nating in stiff points or bristles. Corolla monopetalous, 4- or 
