Description: Biennial herbs, stout, spinose.
Leaves opposite and pairs often fused basally, simple, sessile.
Heads globose, ovoid or cylindrical. Involucral bracts in 1 or 2 rows, linear or lanceolate, erect to spreading, with an apical spine. Receptacle scales ± spine-tipped. Epicalyx 4-angled, forming a tube closely fitting around the ovary. Calyx cup-shaped, ciliate, persistent in fruit at first, later shedding. Corolla unequally 4-lobed.
Fruit an achene, 4-angled, appressed-hairy.
Distribution and occurrence: World: 21 species, Eurasia, Africa. Australia: 2 species (naturalized), N.S.W. Vic., Tas., S.A.
Text by L. Retter, Occurrence updated by Kerry Gibbons 24 May 2023, from Kew Plants of the World Online; Australian Plant Census [both accessed 24 May 2023].
Taxon concept: Flora of NSW vol 3 (1992)
| One species in NSW: Dipsacus fullonum |
|
