458 



THE COMPOSITE FAMILY. 



flower-heads (from f to 1J inches dia- 

 meter), in the breadth of the involucral 

 bracts, in the abundance or deficiency of 

 the cottony wool, in the length of the 

 peduncles ; and botanists have attempt- 

 ed to establish as many as five spe- 

 cies, # but no certain limits can be as- 

 cribed even to the three more generally 

 recognized varieties, the large-headed, 

 the small-headed, and the cottony Bur- 

 docks. 



Em. 547. 



XXII. SAWWORT. SERKATTTLA. 



Herbs, not prickty, but with the general habit and style of the 

 Thistleheads. Involucres ovoid or oblong, the bracts imbricated and 

 pointed, but not prickly. Receptacle with chaffy bristles between the 

 florets. Pappus of numerous simple and unequal hairs, longer than 

 the achenes. Anthers without appendages. 



Although much reduced by the modern splitting of genera, Sawwort 

 still includes several south European and Asiatic species. 



1. Common Sawwort. Serratula tinetoria, Linn. (Fig. 548.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 38.) 



A stiff, erect, scarcely branched, and nearly glabrous perennial, 1 to 

 3 feet high ; the lower leaves more or less pinnate, with lanceolate, 

 pointed, and finely toothed segments, the terminal one the largest ; 

 the upper leaves toothed only, or with a few lobes at their base. 

 Flower-heads in a terminal corymb, partially dioecious, the male heads 

 rather stouter than the females. Involucres 7 or 8 lines long, with 

 numerous ap pressed bracts, the inner ones often coloured at the tips. 

 Florets purple. 



* See Babington's ' Manual,' ed. 4, pp. 184 and 185. 



