4 RANUNCULACEiE 



twisting their petioles ; sepals 4, valvate, petaloid ; petals o ; 

 stame?is many ; carpels many, i-ovuled ; fniit an etserio of achenes 

 with long feathery awns. (Name from the Greek klema, a vine 

 shoot.) 



I. C. Vitdlba (Traveller's Joy). — The only British species. A 

 hedge shrub especially common on calcareous or chalky soils ; 

 well distinguished in summer by its numerous clusters of greenish- 

 white, sweet-scented flowers ; and still more conspicuous in autumn 

 and winter from its tufts of feathery-white fruits, whence it gets 

 the popular name of " Old Man's Beard." — Fl. May, June. 

 Perennial. 



2. Thalictrum (Meadow-rue). — ^Perennial ; leaves compound, 

 stipulate ; stipules united to the leaf-stalk ; sepals 4 — 5, imbricate, 



petaloid -, petals o ; j/cz;;z^;z^ many, 

 yellow; carpels few, i-ovuled; 

 fruit an etaerio of achenes with- 

 out awns. (Name from the 

 Greek thallo^ I flourish.) 



1 . T. Alpinum (Alpine Meadow- 

 rue). — Stem unbranched ; leaves 

 bi-ternate \ glaucous beneath ; 



flowers in a simple terminal 

 raceme, drooping ; sepals pur- 

 plish. — A graceful little plant, 

 4 to 10 in. high, occurring on the 

 mountains of Wales and Scot- 

 land. — Fl. June — August. 



2. T. initius (Lesser Meadow- 

 rue). — Stem 6 — t8 in. high, 

 branched, rigid, zigzag, furrowed, 

 leafless at the base ; leaves bi- or 

 tri-pinnate, stipulate, glaucous ; 

 stipules with spreading auricles ; 

 leaflets ternate, 3-cleft ; petioles 

 with angular, ascending branches; 

 floivers in a loose compound 



raceme with spreading or sub- 

 -vnP^LizT^^^u K^v{^^:u^Alpine Meadoxv->-ue). ^^^^^ branches, ^xoo^ivig ; pedicels 



slender ; sepals 4, pale purplish or 

 yellow-green ; stafne?ts conspicuous, yellow, with apiculate anthers. 

 A form with broadly-spreading inflorescence occurs on sand-dunes, 

 one with more erect growth on dry stony pastures. — Fl. June — 

 August. 



