− | Dipsacaceae (from the genus Dipsacus, derived from the Greek to thirst, in allusion to the water-holding leaf-bases). Teasel Family. Fig. 56. Annual or perennial herbs: leaves opposite, rarely whorled: flowers small, bisexual, mostly irregular, epigynous, in dense involucrate heads; each flower also surrounded by a cup-shaped, more or less scarious, involucre, which is a metamorphosed bracteole; calyx of setaceous segments or crown-like, or plumose, or various; corolla 4-5-lobed, gamopetalous, usually irregular; lobes imbricated; stamens 4, rarely 2-3, mostly epipetalous; ovary inferior, 1-celled, 1-ovuled; style 1; stigmas 2: fruit an achene. | + | Dipsacaceae (from the genus Dipsacus, derived from the Greek to thirst, in allusion to the water-holding leaf-bases). Teasel Family. Annual or perennial herbs: leaves opposite, rarely whorled: flowers small, bisexual, mostly irregular, epigynous, in dense involucrate heads; each flower also surrounded by a cup-shaped, more or less scarious, involucre, which is a metamorphosed bracteole; calyx of setaceous segments or crown-like, or plumose, or various; corolla 4-5-lobed, gamopetalous, usually irregular; lobes imbricated; stamens 4, rarely 2-3, mostly epipetalous; ovary inferior, 1-celled, 1-ovuled; style 1; stigmas 2: fruit an achene. |
| The family has 10 genera and about 150 species, all natives of warm-temperate regions of the Old World, and mostly of the eastern Mediterranean region. The family is related to the Valerianaceae, and more distantly to the Composite. The gamopetalous corolla, 2 carpels, involucrate heads and involucrate flowers are distinctive. | | The family has 10 genera and about 150 species, all natives of warm-temperate regions of the Old World, and mostly of the eastern Mediterranean region. The family is related to the Valerianaceae, and more distantly to the Composite. The gamopetalous corolla, 2 carpels, involucrate heads and involucrate flowers are distinctive. |