THALICTRUM , 3 



method of writing the name was followed by many botanists. In the Genera 

 Plantarum (ed. i, 1737) Linnaeus altered the name to Clematis. This was 

 an unfortunate change, for the name Clematis had been used for very 

 different plants by botanical authorities. Kuntze in his Revisio Generum 

 Plantarum has atterapted to revive the older name, but as the name Clematis 

 is employed in the first edition of the Species Plantarum^ it is contrary to 

 the revised laws of nomenclature to follow Kuntze"s suggestion. 



THALICTRUM, Linn. Gen. PI. n.617 (Tournefort, Inst. t. 270). 



T. flavum, Linn. Sp. PI. 546 (1753). Meadoio Bue. 



T. nigrum, Cordus (1561). Thalictrum, sive Thalictrum majus, Gerard, 

 1067 (1597). 



Top. Bot. 3. Syme, E. B. i. 9, t. 8, Baxt. 254. IS'yman, 5. Fl. Oxf. p. 4. 

 Native. Paludal. Sides of ditches, brooks, and rivers, and in wet 



meadows. Locally common. P. May-July. 

 First record. Thalictron. These grow in all our meadows about Oxford, 



MS. in Lyte's Herball, 1660. T. /lavum. Moist meadows, Dr. Noehden, 



in Mavor's Agr. Berks, 278, 1809. 



1. Isis. Wytham, Fox. Faringdon. Inglesham. Leehlade. Near 



Binsey. 



2. Ock. Meadows about Radley, Baxter. Nuneham, Boswell. Childs- 



well Farm with remarkably large leaflets (var. sphaerocarpum) , 

 Whitivell. Marcham, Walker. Abingdon. Cliolsey. Long Wit- 

 tenham. Sutton Courtney. 



3. Pang. Streatley, Garnse]), in Herb. Oxf. Pangbourn. Basildon. 



Tilehurst. Moulsford. 



4. Kennet. Ham Marsh, Bussell's Cat. Newbury. Benham. Midg- 



ham. Theale, where it flowers later than the Faringdon plant. 



5. Loddon. Sonning, Budge, in Herb. Brit. Mus. 1800. About New 



Lock and Medmenham abundant and by the Thames generally, 

 Mill. By the Blackwater, Salmon. Near Park Place, Stanton. 

 Banks of Blackwater near Yateley Mill, Penny. Between Sand- 

 ford Mill and Hurst in ditches, Melvill. Hurley. Wargrave. 

 Near Windsor. Cookham. Loddon Bridge. Arborfield. 

 Finchampstead. Old Windsor. 

 T. flavum is a rather variable plant, not only in the size of its leaflets 

 but in the panicle being contracted or more open, while the fruits 

 vary in shape. Some of these forms have been described as species. 

 Oui* more common form is that which is figured in Reichenbach's 

 Icones Fl. Germ, et Helv. iii. fig. 4640, as T. Morisoni, Gmel. The name 

 was given in honour of Morison, Professor of Botany at Oxford, who 

 described and figured the Meadow Rue, probably from a local speci- 

 men, on t. 12 of Plant. Umbellif., which appeared in 1672. This 

 is now considered to be the typical form. It flowers a little later 

 than the variety sphaerocarpum, which is figured in Reichb. 1. c. 



B 2 



