COMPOSITE. 



407 



3. Field Scabious. Scabiosa arvensis, Linn. (Fig. 489.) 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 659.) 



A perennial, bnt of short duration, 

 and often flowering the first year, more 

 or less hairy, especially near the base, 

 from 1 to 2 or even 3 feet high. Leaves 

 very variable ; the radical ones usually 

 lanceolate and stalked ; the upper ones 

 broader at the base, and sessile ; all 

 coarsely toothed or slightly lobed, but 

 sometimes some or all are deeply cut 

 or pinnate. Heads of flowers large, of 

 a pale lilac-purple, on long peduncles ; 

 the outer florets much larger and more 

 oblique than the central ones, as in the 

 small $., but all are 4-lobed. Involucre 

 short. Receptacle with hairs only be- 

 tween the florets. Involucel very mi- 

 nute. Ovary and fruit angular, crowned 

 by the 8 or 10 radiating teeth or short 

 bristles of the calyx. 



In pastures, open woods, waste and cultivated places, throughout 

 Europe and Hussian Asia to the Arctic Circle. Abundant in Britain. 

 Fl. all summer. 



Fig. 489. 



XL. THE COMPOSITE FAMILY. COMPOSITE. 



Herbs, or in some exotic genera or species, shrubs, with alter- 

 nate or opposite leaves, without stipules. Elowers or florets col- 

 lected several together into a head surrounded by an involucre, 

 the whole having the appearance of a single flower, and called by 

 older authors a compound flower with a common calyx. The re- 

 ceptacle, or enlarged summit of the peduncle on which the florets 

 are inserted within the involucre, either bears chaffy scales and 

 hairs between the florets or is naked. In each floret the calyx is 

 combined with the ovary, either completely so or only appears at 



