[August, 1857.] 169 



OBSERVATIONS ON THALICTRUM MINUS 

 and its Allies, which inhabit Britain. By J. G. Baker. 



Upon studying carefully the plants given in the ' Supplement 

 to the Yorkshire Flora/ under Thalictrum flexuosum, I find that 

 they represent, nQt_only the true^e<:K'M05Mm of ^ but also 



two_-Qther species, which appear to possess well-marked and per- 

 manent characteristics, viz, T. eminens and T. calcareum of Jor^ 

 dan ._ They are both elaborately passed under review in the fifth 

 fragment of Jordan^s ^Plantes Nouvelles, Rares, ou Critiques;' 

 and forcible descriptions of the other British species, with apicu- 

 late anthers, may be found in various works of recent authors, 

 especially the ' Summa Vegetabilium Scandinavise ' of Fries ; 

 but as it is probable that a large proportion of the readers of 

 the ' Phytologist ' have not access to these, and as the allies of 

 minus are only imperfectly understood by many of our botanists, 

 it may not be deemed a work of supererogation to attempt here 

 a cursory sketch of the series. 



The genuine T. minus is common enough amongst the sand- 

 hills along the coast-line of most of the counties from Sutherland 

 southward, to' the central part of England; inland it inhabits 

 the chalk district, and various hilly tracts of more or less calca- 

 reous nature ; but probably it should be considered as a doubtful 

 point whether many or most of the more elevated stations which 

 have been reported, really produce the true plant. In a wild 

 state the stem seldom exceeds a foot in height, which is consider- 

 ably shorter than in any of the others. On the sandhills it is 

 strong, stout, deeply striated, flexuose, and much branched ; else- 

 where erect or suberect, and usually more slender and graceful ; 

 the leaves do not descend to the base of the stem, and mostly 

 become much diminished before they reach the panicle. On the 

 coast they are full green on the upper surface, glaucous and glan- 

 dular beneath; the auricles of the stipules are spreading, not 

 inflexed, in my specimens ; when it attains a fair degree of deve- 

 lopment, the lower branches of the panicle spread from the stem 

 at an angle of ninety degrees or more; the carpels are oblong- 

 fusiform in shape, somewhat compressed, slightly oblique, larger 

 in size than in any of the others. 



T. flexuosum is apparently a plant of stream-sides and damp 



N.S. VOL. II. 'I, 



