Dipsacus.] XLII, DIPSACEA. 221 
5-lobed, and often oblique. Stamens 4, inserted in the tube ; 
the anthers free, not united as in Composite. Fruit small, 
dry, and indehiscent, crowned by the border of the calyx, often 
enclosed in the involucel, which assumes the form of an outer 
coating. Seed solitary, pendulous. 
A small family, spread over the temperate regions of the old world, both 
in the northern hemipshere and insouthern Africa; at once distinguished 
from Composite by the anthers, from capitate Umbellifere by the opposite 
leaves and the monopetalous corollas. 
Scales of the receptacle between the florets prickly ; ° . . 1. Drpsacus 
Scales of the receptacle not prickly, orreplaced by hairs . - . 2. SCABIOSA. 
I. DIPSACUS, TEASEL. 
Tall, erect biennials, either prickly or bearing very stiff hairs. Heads 
of flowers oblong or globular; the scales between the florets oblong and 
prickly, Involucels small and angular, with a very small, thickened border. 
Calyx with a small, cup-shaped border appearing above the involucel. 
Corolla oblique, 4-lobed. 
A very small European and north Asiatic genus. 
Heads of flowers ovoid or cylindrical, very prickly . é “ » 1. D. sylvestris. 
Heads of flowers globular, very hairy, ‘and slightly prickly . . 2 D. pilosus, 
1. D. sylvestris, Linn. (fig. 490). Common Teasel.—A stout 
biennial, 4 or 5 feet high, with numerous prickles on the stems, the mid- 
ribs of the leaves, the peduncles, and involucres. Leaves sessile, long 
and lanceolate, entire or coarsely toothed, the upper ones broadly con- 
nate at the base. Heads of flowers at first ovoid, but gradually becoming 
cylindrical, near 3 inches long and above 13,;inches in diameter. Involucre 
of 8 to 12 long but very unequal, stiff, linear, prickly bracts, usually 
curved upwards. Scales of the receptacle broad and hairy at the base, 
ending in a fine prickly point, rather longer than the florets. Flowers 
_ pale-lilac. 
On road-sides and waste places, in central and southern Europe, and all 
across Russian Asia, not extending northward beyond Germany. Com- 
mon in the southern counties of England, more rare in the north, and in 
Scotland, and a doubtful native of Ireland, #7. late in summer, or 
autumn. The fullers’ Teasel (D. fullonum) is believed to be a cultivated 
variety of this plant, only differing in the scales of the receptacle being 
hooked at the extremity. ? 
2, D. pilosus, Linn. (fig. 491). Small Teasel.—A branching biennial, 
2 to 4 feet high, covered with stiff spreading hairs or bristles, which rarely 
amount to weak prickles. Leaves with 1 large, ovate, pointed, and coarsely 
toothed terminal segment, and 1 or 2 pairs of smaller ones on the short 
leafstalk. Flowers white, forming globular, hispid heads, barely an inch in 
diameter, on long peduncles. Bracts of the involucre seldom longer than 
the florets, and passing gradually into the scales of the receptacle, which 
a ovate, ending in a fine stiff point, almost prickly, about as long as the 
orets. 
In rather moist hedges, thickets, and on banks, in central and southern 
Europe to the Caucasus, extending northwards to southern Sweden. Occurs 
