DR. HOOKER ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF ARCTIC PLANTS. 311 



Thalictbtim. For observations on the Arctic Scandinavian forms of this genus, see 

 Fries, Summa Veg. Scand. p. 135. 



T. Kemense, Fr. When engaged on the ' Flora Indica,' Dr. Thomson and I made a very 

 laborious investigation of this genus, referring the T. Kemense of Fries's ' Herb. Normale' 

 to T. majns, Jacq., and further identifying it ^\ith the Himalayan T. Maxwellii, Pv-oyle, 

 which also occasionally possesses stipellte. Wahlenberg referred T. Kemense to T.jiavuvi, 

 (3 (fid. Ledebour and Ruprecht) ; and I have received from Dr. Andersson a specimen of 

 T. Kemense that seems different from Fries's and to be identical with T. simplex, L., having 

 the inflorescence of that plant, which is itself a form of T. Jlaviim. Of Fries's T. Kemense 

 I have fine specimens also from Alten, gathered l)y the late W. Christy, Esq., having 

 rather larger leaves than those of the ' Herb. Normale.' Harvey (' Flora Capensis') has 

 referred the only South- African Thalictrnm to T. minus {Cajfriun, E. & Z., miAgracile, E. 

 Meyer). 



T. rariflorum, Fr. (mmus, Fries, Herb. Norm.), appears to me almost identical in inflo- 

 rescence with the T. stricttom, Led. {T. exaltatim, C. A. M.), which, again, resembles few- 

 flowered specimens of T. flcwum, L. The ' Herb. Normale' specimen of T. flavum, marked 

 "certiss." is undistinguishable from a Siberian one of Ledebour' s marked " exaltatum, 

 C. A. M." According to Nyman, the T. rariflorum, Fr., is the same as T. Friesii, Rupr., 

 and T. strict um-borecde of Nylander. Fries does not regard the true T. minus of Lin- 

 naeus as Lapponian. 



Akemone NitttalUana, DC. This is certainly identical with A. imtens, L., and was so 

 considered in Flor. Bor.-Am., in Torrey and Gray's Flora, and in the first edition of A. Gray's 

 Manual. In the second edition of this last work, however, A. Gray keeps it distinct, saying 

 that it more resembles A. pulsatiUa ihwi. jiatens : this must arise from misconception, as 

 jmlsatilla has pinnatisect foliage, and there is no difference whatever discernible between 

 Nuttalliana and patens, of both which I have compared large suites of specimens in all 

 states. 



A. VaUii, Horn. (Flor. Dan. t. 2176), a Greenland plant, is referred by Lange to A. 



Richardsoni. 



A. alpina, L. I have seen but one Arctic Anrerican specimen ; it is much stunted. 

 This species has not been found east of the Caucasus in the Old World, though it is not 

 uncommon in North America on both sides of the Rocky Mouutains. 



Ranunculus conferooicles, Fr. This slender form of the protean R. aquatllis is the 

 only one found within the arctic circle ; it is the U. aquatiUs /3. pantothrix of Ledebour, 

 and, I think, also the R. aquatllis /3. heterophyllus, Fr., of Babington's ' Iceland Plants.' 

 My Greenland, Iceland, and Lapponian specimens seem to accord well ; l}ut Durand 

 (' Kane's Voyage,' Appendix) calls the Greenland plant " var. arcticus," and states that it 

 is the " liederaceo-proximus" of Gieseke, having a great affinity with hederaceus, Lam,, 

 non Linn. 



R. Chamissonis, Schl., according to authentic specimens, appears to be the same with 

 R. glacialis, L. The distrilmtion of glacialis is peculiar, it having been found in East 

 Greenland by the earliest and by all subsequent voyagers, Imt never on tlie l^.aflin's 



