18 SWISS FLOWERS. 



which have very much the appearance of the well-known 

 Maiden-hair, Adiantum cuneatum. Its flowers are yellowish 

 and insignificant, and the plant grows from one to two 

 feet in height. But it is not this Thalictrum that will 

 probably first attract attention in Switzerland. There are 

 many species rather difficult to distinguish from each other, 

 and perhaps some are mere varieties ; but the family may 

 be recognised by the much-divided, often ternate, or twice 

 ternate leaves, with wedge-shaped leaflets. The flowers, 

 too, cannot be mistaken ; the sepals, like petals, and for- 

 merly so called, are insignificant, and soon fall off", making 

 the flowers, which grow in panicles, or clusters, seem as 

 though they consisted of a mass of stamens, the large anthers 

 of which, numerous in each blossom, give the appearance of 

 a purple, white, or yellowish tuft, as the case may be. 

 T. Aquiligifolium is perhaps the most striking ; purplish-blue 

 in colour, two or three feet high, with leaves very much like 

 those of the common Columbine. It is often met with 

 among high mountainous woods and pastures, and is fre- 

 quently cultivated in England, in old-fashioned gardens. 

 Our plant, T. flavum (Fig. 1), is about two feet high, with 

 yellowish flowers in a corymbose panicle ; stem furrowed, 

 the plant very leafy, leaves twice pinnate, leaflets often 

 turned back at the edge. Very common in damp meadows. 

 Its leaves dry well, and also its flowers. 



