40 POLYANDRIA— POLYGYNIA. Thalictrum. 



277. THALICTRUM. Meadow-rue. 



Linn. Gen. 280. Juss. 232. Fl. Br. 583. Tourn. t. \43. Lam. 

 t. 497. Gcertn. t. 74. DeCand. Syst. v. 1. 168. 



Nat. Ord. See n. 270—273, and 275—282. 



Cal. none. Pet. 4 or 5, inferior, roundish, obtuse, concave, 

 imbricated in the bud, deciduous. Filain. numerous, ca- 

 pillary, somewhat thickened at the upper part, various 

 in length. Anth. terminal, oblong, drooping, bursting 

 at the edges. Germ, several, superior, ovate, striated. 

 Styles none. Stigmas oblique, ovate, tumid, downy. Seeds 

 as many as the germens, ovate, furrowed, or winged, 

 without any terminal appendage. 



Perennial herbs, somewhat fetid and acrid. Roots fibrous, 

 or partly fleshy, often yellow. Leaves, except in one In- 

 dian species, repeatedly compound, generally very smooth; 

 leaflets lobed, or notched, variable. Fl. panicled, droop- 

 ing or erect, whitish, or pale yellow, not splendid. The 

 stamens and pistils vary with respect to number in some 

 species, and the former are singularly dilated in T.peta- 

 loideum, of which stami^ieum proves, by the Linnsean her- 

 barium, to be scarcely a variety. Some American ones 

 are dioecious. A few have 5 petals. 



1 . T. alpmutn. Alpine Meadow-rue. 



Stem perfectly simple and almost naked, with a simple ter- 

 minal cluster. 



T. alpinum. Linn. Sp. PI. 767. Willd.v. 2. 1295. Fl. Br. 584. 



Engl. Bot. V.4. t. 262. Lightf. 286. 1. 13./. I. Dicks. H. Sice. 



fasc. 1 8. 6. Hook. Scot. 171. Wi72ch Guide, v. 1 . 52. Fl. Dan. 



t.W. DeCand. Syst. v.\. 175. 

 T. minimum montanum atro-rubens, foliis splendentibus. Raii 



Syn. 204. Boerh. Ind. Alt. v.\.44.t.\. 

 T. montanum minimum prsecox, foliis splendentibus. Moris. 



v.3.325.sect9.t.20.f. 14. 



In elevated moist alpine pastures. 



On most of the highest mountains in Wales and Scotland. Sent 

 from Durham by the Rev. Mr. Harriman. Mr. Winch mentions 

 it as growing " near Caldron Snout, by the path leading from 

 thence to Widdv Bank/' in that county : as also upon Cronkley 

 Fell. 



Perennial. June. 



Root of a few long cylindrical fibres. Herb quite smooth, from 3 

 to 6 inches high. Leaves chiefly radical, on long, slender, up- 

 right /oo^s^a/A-6\ twice ternate, and somewhat pinnate, their little 



