406 



THE TEASEL FAMILY. 



little oblique. Tnvolucels tubular, an- 

 gular, completely enclosing the ovary 

 and fruit, bordered by very small, green 

 teeth. Fruit crowned by the 4 bristles 

 of the calyx, which scarcely project be- 

 yond the involucel. 



In meadows, pastures, heaths, etc., 

 throughout Europe and Russian Asia, 

 except the extreme north. Abundant in 

 Britain. Fl. summer and autumn. 



Fig. 487. 



2. Small Scabious. Scabiosa Columbaria, Linn. (Fig. 488.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 1311.) 



Stock perennial, tufted when old, and 

 sometimes almost woody. Stems 1 to 2 

 feet high, including the long terminal 

 peduncles, glabrous or slightly hoary. 

 Leaves pinnate, the lower ones crowded, 

 spreading, with an ovate or oblong ter- 

 minal segment, and several smaller ones ; 

 the stem-leaves few, with linear seg- 

 ments entire or pinnatifid. Flowers of 

 a pale purplish-blue. Involucres short. 

 Scales of the receptacle small and linear. 

 Florets 5-lobed, the outer ones of each 

 head much larger and more oblique. In- 

 volucel enclosing the fruit to near the 

 top, w T here it is contracted, and then ex- 

 pands into a scarious, sinuate, cup-shaped 

 border, in the centre of which appears 

 the summit of the fruit, crowned by the 

 5 bristles of the calyx. 

 In pastures and waste places, very abundant all over central and 

 southern Europe, extending eastward to the Caucasus, and northward 

 to southern Scandinavia. Dispersed over a great part of England, 

 especially near the east coast, along which it extends into Scotland, 

 but does not occur in Ireland. Fl. summer and autumn. 



Fig. 488. 



