FUMITOEY TRIBE 39 



Order V. FUMARIACEiE— FUMITORY TRIBE. 



Sepals 2, deciduous; petals 4, irregular, and more or less united and 

 swollen or spurred at the base ; stamens G, in two bundles ; ovary 1 -celled ; 

 style threadlike ; stigma lobed ; seed-vessel 1 or more seeded ; seeds shining. 

 Herbaceous plants, closely allied to the poppies, but having a watery and not 

 milky juice. They are scentless and slightly bitter. They are found chiefly 

 in the temperate latitudes of the northern hemisphere, in thickets and waste 

 places. Two are found at the Cape of Good Hope. 



1. CoRYDALis. — Petals 4, one of which is spurred at the base; seed- 

 vessel many-seeded. Name, the Greek word for Fumitory. 



2. Fumitory {Fumdria). — Petals 4, more or less united, one of them 

 swollen at the base; seed-vessel 1 -seeded. Name irova. fumiis, smoke. 



CORYDALIS. 



1. White Climbing Corydalis (C. davkuldta). — Stem much-branched, 

 climbing ; leaves pinnate ; leaflets elliptical and entire, the leaf-stalk ter- 

 minating in tendrils. Plant annual. This plant, which is found in some 

 shrubby and bushy places in England where the soil is stony or gravelly, is 

 very abundant in Scotland, and especially in the Highlands, where it grows 

 on old walls or on the roofs of cottages, among stonecrops, houseleeks, the 

 short brownish-green cushion moss, and the scaly crusts of the lichen called 

 the orange parmelia. The Corydalis is long and straggling, very delicate in 

 texture and appearance ; and its flowers, which are pale yellow, almost white, 

 bloom in June and August in small clusters. When growing among the 

 underwood, its tendrils enable it to climb to a distance of some feet. Several 

 species of Corydalis are favourite garden flowers, and they have mostly 

 yellow or purple blossoms. They are easily cultivated, and are pretty orna- 

 ments of rockwork. Some of the most elegant of the genus grow wild in 

 North America. 



2. Solid-rooted Corydalis (C. solida). — Stem erect, and without 

 branches or tendrils ; a scale beneath the lower leaf. Leaves 3 — 4, twice 

 ternate, their leaflets wedge-shaped or oblong, and cut ; root solid and 

 tuberous. Plant perennial. The flowers of this species are purple, and 

 much larger than those of the white-flowered Corydalis. The plant blossoms 

 in May and June, and is sometimes admitted into the garden, where, at one 

 time, it was quite a favourite. It is nowhere a native of Britain, and many 

 of the habitats recorded for it are spots on which gardens were once culti- 

 vated, and where still " many a garden-flower grows wild." It is a native of 

 Europe. Its foliage is of bluish green, and its roots abound in starch, which 

 is used by the Kalmucs for their winter food. 



3. Yellow Corydalis (C Mtea). — Stem angular, erect ; leaves twice 

 pinnate; leaflets broadly Avedge-shaped, and cut, or 3-cleft; bracts very 

 small ; pods nearly cylindrical, and very short. Like the solid-rooted 

 species, this plant is destitute of tendrils. Its flowers are of a bright yellow, 

 appearing in May and June. This species is not uncommon on old walls, 

 sometimes flourishing there in great abundance ; but there is no reason to 

 believe it is an indigenous plant, though, from its frequent occurrence with- 

 out culture, it is generally enumerated among the plants of our British Flora. 



