CLASS xiir. ORDER HI.] THALICTRUM. 779 



drical, two-edged smooth follicles, pointed, with the persistent sessile 

 stii/ma, one celled. Seeds- numerous, attached to the margins of the 

 valve of the capsule. 



Habitat. — Marshes and wet meadows, frequent; /3. less common ; y. 

 Scotland ; especially by the side of mountain lakes and rivulets. 



Perennial ; flowering from March to June. 



The whole plant is acrid, and refused by cattle when other food can 

 be obtained. The young flower buds, when properly pickled, arc said 

 to make a good substitute for capers, and the juice of the flowers 

 boiled with alum forms a good yellow dye for paper, &c. By cultiva- 

 tion the flowers become very double, and are very showy on damp 

 banks and borders. 



GENUS XVI II. THALICTRUM.— Linn. Meadow Rue. 



Nat. OrJ. RANUNCULA'CEiE. De Cand. 



Gen. Char. Calyx petaloid, of four or five pieces. Corolla wanting. 

 Capsules single seeded, without awns. — Name from QxXXu, to 

 flourish. 



* Stamens pendulous. 



1. T. alpi'num, Linn. (Fig. 884.) Alpine Meadoiv Rue. Stem erect, 

 simple, nearly leafless; raceme terminal, simple; pedicles reflexed in 

 fruit ; stamens pendulous. 



English Botany, t. 262. — English Flora, vol. iii. p. 40. — Hooker, 

 British Flora, ed. 4. vol. i. p. 217. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 8. 



Root fibrous. Stem erect, smooth, from three to six inches high, 

 angular, and slightly furrowed, simple, naked, or with one or two 

 leaves on short footstalks, the radical ones numerous, on long slender 

 smooth ones, spreading, twice ternate, with roundish wedge-shaped 

 segments, deeply crenated or lobed, dark shining green above, pale and 

 glaucous beneath, the margins recurved, the veins branched, prom inent. 

 Inflorescence a simple terminal raceme. Flowers small, rather distant, 

 each on a slender pedicle, reflexed in fruit. Bracteas under each 

 pedicle, ovate lanceolate, obscurely three ribbed. Calyx four, ovate, 

 acute, pale yellow. Stamens six to ten, with capillary filaments, and 

 large linear oblong yellow anthers, of two cells, terminated in a short 

 point. Germens two to four, ovate, compressed, with sessile spreading 

 stigmas. Capsules each single seeded, smooth, nearly even. 



Habitat. — Mountains in theNorth of England, Wales, and Scotland. 



Perennial; flowering in July. 



2. T. minus, Linn. (Fig. 885.) Lesser Mountain Rue. Stem 

 striated, sub-pruinose ; leaves ternate; leaflets roundish, or ovate, 

 wedge-shaped, three cleft, and toothed, glaucous beneath, or glandu- 



