258 Mr. C. C. Babington on Furaaria micrantha. 



XXXVIII. — On Fumaria micrantha, Lag., and F. calycina, 

 Bab. By Charles C. Babington, M.A., F.L.S., F.G.S., 



The difference of opinion \Yhich has for some time existed 

 between Dr. Arnott and myself concerning the identity of the 

 Fumaria micrantha (Lag.) and the F. calycina (Bab.) having 

 been now set at rest, I feel myself bound to communicate the 

 fact to the public at the earliest opportunity. In the original 

 paper upon these plants by Dr.Walker Arnott (published by the 

 Bot. Soc.) he expressly states that he had not seen and did not 

 know of an authentic specimen of F. micrantha, and there ap- 

 pearing to me to be many weighty reasons for not considering 

 the F. calycina as identical with it, I have, up to the present 

 time, resisted the application of La Gasca's name to my plant. 

 The reasons referred to have been already communicated to 

 the Botanical Society, but will not now be published, as they 

 are quite superseded by information which I have recently 

 obtained. 



Learning accidentally that, in a small but valuable work, 

 entitled ' Introduction a une Flore analytique de Paris,' a Fu- 

 maria was noticed under the name of F. micrantha (Lag.), I 

 applied to Dr. A. Weddell, one of its authors, for information 

 concerning that plant, sending at the same time a specimen 

 of the Edinburgh F. calycina. In reply he informs me that 

 Prof. Parlatore, Curator of the Grand-ducal Herbarium at Flo- 

 rence, who, it is well known, has long been employed upon a 

 monogTaph of the Fumariacece, compared the French plant 

 '•with authentic samples'' of that of La Gasca, and thus with 

 certainty determined their identity. Dr. Weddell has now 

 carefully examined my specimen from Edinburgh of F. caly- 

 cina, and sent to me a portion of one of his own specimens of 

 the French F. micrantha, at the same time giving his opinion 

 that the Parisian and Scottish specimens belong to the same 

 species. In this opinion I fully concur ; and as it is clear, from 

 what has been already stated, that they agree with the plant of 

 La Gasca, the Scottish plant must be denominated F. mi- 

 crantha, and the name which I applied to it will sink into a 

 synonym. I may add, that Dr. Weddell refers F. iwehensilis 

 (Kitaib.) to this species (on the authority of authentic speci- 

 mens), not to F. capreolata, as was done by Dr. Arnott. 



In the course of the summer of 1842 my valued friend 

 Mr. Borrer observed that the F. micrantha was plentiful near 

 Guildford in Surrey, and it is probable that it will prove to be 

 far from a rare plant in Britain. 



* Read before the Botanical Society at Edinburgh. 



