8 THE GENUS FUMARIA IN BRITAIN 



The distinctions drawn in m}' paper, however, between the 

 Guernsey and the British forms undoubtedly liold good, so it 

 would appear that this latter plant differs not only from the 

 former but from all other known forms by its much larger and 

 more rectangular fruits. It is curious that while this feature 

 attracted the notice of Babington, on comparing our plant with 

 specimens of F. speciosa from Montpellier (Trans. Linn. Soc. 1859), 

 he does not appear to have realized that the small rotund fruits 

 which he noticed in F. speciosa are likewise found in all the 

 capreolata forms outside of these islands. This is perhaps due to 

 a lack of sufficient adequate specimens. 



The discovery of this difference in the fruit of the British 

 F. capreolata has naturally led me to look for further peculiarities, 

 and I think a few other but less important distinctions may 

 certainly be drawn. In the first place, the fruit, besides being 

 larger and less rounded, is also, when dry, less smooth and 

 polished, and occasionally even shows a fine rugulosity. The 

 sepals, too, are frequently a little longer than in any Continental 

 forms, and the tip of the upper petal is conspicuously acute owing 

 to a less abrupt termination of the keel and a smaller develop- 

 ment of the wangs. 



So far as my experience goes, specimens from Great Britain 

 and Ireland exhibit these peculiarities with fair uniformity, but 

 sometimes there is, in well-grown plants, a difference in the 

 breadth of the sepals, and in certain seasons, such as the cool 

 and wet summer of 1903, the corolla may become more or less 

 dorsally suffused with red as in the Continental type. In West 

 Cornwall a form occurs in which the pink tinting is more pro- 

 nounced and the fruiting pedicels are generally divaricate instead 

 of recurved, thus belying the principal specific character. Another 

 form in North Devon has broad and rounded fruits, resembling 

 those of Continental plants but twice as large and finely rugulose. 



It follows that our ordinary plant must be distinguished from 

 the Continental F. capreolata, and in view of its several diver- 

 gences, it may be thought specifically distinct. Its most impor- 

 tant difference lies of course in the fruit, and I have not noticed a 

 gradation of forms. But in some other Fumarias also, a consider- 

 able variation may be observed in this organ ; so, although I 

 believe the differences in this case to be permanent and not the 

 result of present environment, yet, considering our plant's general 

 close resemblance to such a well-defined species as F, capreolata, 

 it seems hypercritical to accord it separate specific rank and 

 preferable to regard it rather as a well-marked variety. I there- 

 fore propose to class it thus and to name it after Babington, who 

 was one of the first among British botanists to interest himself in 

 the genus, and wdio first noticed the chief peculiarity of this 

 particular form. 



The plant from West Cornwall already alluded to is evidently 

 a modification of this same form, showing exactly the same type 

 of fruit, and I therefore rank it as a subvariety only. The Devon- 

 shire plant, however, is more distinct, and as its large fruits 



