404 



THE TEASEL FAMILY. 



sessile, long and lanceolate, entire or 

 coarsely toothed, the upper ones broadly- 

 connate at the base. Heads of flowers 

 at first ovoid, but gradually becoming 

 cylindrical, near 3 inches long and above 

 1^ 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 roadsides and waste places, in cen- 

 tral and southern Europe, and all across 

 Russian Asia, not extending northward 

 beyond Germany. Common in the 

 southern counties of England and in Ire- 

 land, more rare in the north, and in 

 Scotland probably only as an introduced 

 plant. Fl. late in summer or autumn. 

 The fullers' Teasel (D. fullonum, Eng. 

 Bot. t. 2080) is believed to be a cultivated variety of this plant, only 

 differing in the scales of the receptacle being hooked at the extremity. 



Fig. 485. 



2. Small Teasel. 



Fig. 486. 



Dipsacus pilosus, Linn. (Fig. 486.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 877.) 



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 pe- 

 duncles. Bracts of the involucre sel- 

 dom longer than the florets, and passing 

 gradually into the scales of the receptacle, 

 which are ovate, ending in a fine stiff 

 point, almost prickly, about as long as 

 the florets. 



In rather moist hedges, thickets, and 

 banks, in central and southern Europe 

 to the Caucasus, extending northwards 



