42 POLYANDRIA— POLYGYNIA. Thalictrum. 



in variety /3, or wedge-shaped as in Engl. Bot. ; glaucous on both 

 sides, smooth, notched or lobed in the fore part. Footstalks an- 

 gular, smooth ; the common one short, broad, channelled above, 

 strongly furrowed beneath. Stipulas interior, simple, clasping 

 the stem, short, broad, rounded, glaucous, purplish, jagged or 

 fringed at the edge. Panicles compound, spreading, accompa- 

 nied at the base by a few ternate, or slightly pinnate, leaves. 

 Bracteas few, small, lanceolate. Fl. drooping, or pendulous, on 

 slender stalks. Pet. 4, pale purple, with white edges. Seeds 

 furrowed. 

 Such is our British plant. The Swedish specimens of Linnseus are 

 much larger, like those of Villars from Dauphiny ; but both an- 

 swer to the above characters, especially in the stipulas. I have 

 not seen the ripe seeds, which, according to DeCandolle, are 

 acute at both ends. 



3. T. majus. Greater Meadow-rue. 



Leaves triply pinnate; leaflets ternate, lobed, glaucous be- 

 neath. Branches of the panicle aggregate, somewhat um- 

 bellate. Flowers drooping. Stipulas crescent-shaped, 

 notched. 



T. majus. Crantz. Justr.fasc. 2. 80. Jacq. Austr. t. 420. Murr. 



Syst. Feg. Linn. ecZ. 14. 513. fVilld. Sp. PL v. 2. 1297. Fl. Br. 585. 



Engl. Bot. V. 9. t.Gli. DeCand.Syst.v. I. 179. Ger.Em. 1251. f. 

 T. magnum. Dod.Pempt.58.f. 

 Ruta pratensis herbariorum. Lob. Ic. v. 2. 56./. 



On bushy hills in the north of England, 



At Baydales, near Darlington ; also on the margin of Ulswater, 

 Cumberland. Mr. Robson. 



Peretmial, June, July. 



Twice or thrice the size of the last. Leaflets of a dark shining 

 green on the upper side ; glaucous beneath only ; the larger 

 ones often an inch broad. Stem 3 feet high, or more, purplish, 

 angular in the upper part. Lower branches of the panicle 2 or 3 

 together; uppermost either umbellate or alternate. Fl. on long 

 stalks, drooping. Pet. 4, purplish green, Anth. yellow, quite 

 pendulous. Seeds obliquely elliptical, furrowed. The wooden 

 cut of the old authors above quoted, the same in all, certainly 

 belongs to this species, and not to the following. The character 

 of the panicle, and its difference from T. minus, are there well 

 expressed, nor can these species be confounded. 



4. T.^avum. Common Meadow-rue. 



Stem erect, furrowed, leafy. Leaves doubly pinnate; part- 

 ly three-lobed. Panicle compound, close, corymbose. 

 Flowers and stamens erect. 



