6 ENGLISH BOTANY. 
leaf becomes almost ternate. Leaflets very variable in shape, usually 
about as broad as long, and 8-lobed. Flowers drooping when fully 
expanded. Sepals 4, fawn-colour and purplish-brown. Achenes 3 
to 6, sessile, regularly ovoid, bulging slightly at the base on the 
outside, but much more conspicuously about one-third from the tip 
on the inner side, marked with about 8 ribs. Plant very vari- 
able in the extent to which it is covered by glaucous powder or 
small stalked glands. T. calcareum of Jordan, which occurs at Ben 
Balben, near Sligo, is considered by Professor Babington to be a 
form of this species; but, judging from dried specimens, it appears 
to me to be simply the usual inland form of the plant,—our variety 
& montanum. 
Sus-Srecies IL.—T. flexuosum. Sernh. 
Pruate V. 
Reich. Ic. Fl. Germ. et Helv. Vol. III. Ran. Tab. XXVIII. Fig. 4628. 
Bab. Aun. Nat, Hist. ser. ii. Vol. XI. p. 267; Man. Brit. Bot. ed. v. p.4; and FL 
Camb. App. p. 299. Fries, Mant. III. p. 47; and Summ. Veg. Scand. p. 136. 
T. minus B, Hook. & Arn. Brit. Fl. ed. viii, p. 5. 
T. minus (in part), Benth. Handk. Brit. Fl. p. 56. 
T. minus (in part) and T. majus (in part), Sm. Eng. Fl. Vol. III. pp. 41, 42. 
Stem leafy at the base. Auricles of the stipules “ reflexed.” 
Branches of the petioles divaricate. Panicle loose, usually sub- 
corymbose at the top, primary and secondary bracts resembling the 
leaves. In stony places and amongst bushes, or occasionally in 
sandy places on the sea-shore, apparently as frequent as the pre- 
ceding sub-species, with which it is generally confounded. In the 
North of England and in Scotland it appears to be the more common 
form of the two. 
England, Scotland, Ireland. Perennial. Summer. 
given to the Thalictram minus of Fries, to distinguish it from the aggregate species. 
Several authors consider that T. minus should include T. Kochii and T. saxatile, as well 
as our 7’, eu-minus and T. flexuosum. Thatis a matter of opinion ; and those who hold 
that view have only to make the specific character here given to T. minus more com- 
prehensive, so as to admit under it the two extra forms as sub-species with the names 
they already bear. Eu-minus is given to a speciai form, to avoid confusion, from the 
employment of the name minus restricted to a special form, and minus applied to a 
group of forms, whether the forms included in that group be many or few. What is 
required is some means of distinguishing each of the forms separately. I have tried, 
by the use of the simple prefix mentioned, to distinguish the part from the whole, with 
the least possible variation from the name which has been applied to the former by 
some authors, and to the latter by others; and though open to the objection of being 
a Greek prefix, while specific names are usually of Latin origin, the advantages seem 
to me too great to be outweighed by so trifling a defect. 
