THE GENUS FUMARIA IN BRITAIN 47 



that in Germany F. Wirtgeni grows in company with F. officinalis, 

 F. Vaillantii, and F. Schleicheri, he proceeded to show that 

 Peterman's F. acrocarpa was really the last-named of these species, 

 and Hammar's F. tenuiflora therefore not identical with F. Wirt- 

 geni Koch, the descriptions of the floral and fruiting organs of 

 these plants being confused owing to accidental admixtures of 

 specimens. A sheet of F. acrocarpa Peterm. in Herb. Mus. Brit., 

 though shade-grown, is still recognizable as F. Schleicheri. 



F. Wirtgeni Koch is reduced by Haussknecht to a variety of 

 F. officinalis, from the type of which it is said to differ "durch die 

 kurzen Fruchttrauben, durch blassere, kleinere Bliithen, durch 

 die rundliche deutlich ausgerandete Platte des obern, durch die 

 rundliche vorn flach abgerundete oder etwas gestutzte Platte des 

 untern Blumenblattes, dessen Eander schmaler sind als die von 

 F. officinalis ; ferner durch die kleinern, kaum halb so langen 

 Kelchblatter, so wie durch die vor dem Austrocknen flach abger- 

 undeten Niisschen mit kurzen Spitzchen." He distinguishes 

 three forms of F. officinalis and of F. Wirtgeni ; of the former, 

 a. florihunda Peterm., b. agrestis, and c. umhrosa ; of the latter, 

 a. vernalis, b. cBstivalis, and c. umhrosa : of which the first, in 

 each case, is an early, erect-growing state, the second, a difluse^ 

 branched plant, characteristic of summer cultivation, and the 

 third, a rampant, shade-grown condition with small and pale 

 flowers. As the distinctions on w^hich these forms are founded 

 seem to be of a vegetative nature, directly attributable to environ- 

 ment and not of any permanence, indeed, such as may readily 

 be found with other species of Fumaria, e. g. in F. Borcei, the 

 retention in this sense of "form" names — and I think Haussk- 

 necht attached to them but little importance — seems quite un- 

 necessary. 



In addition to his var. Wirtgeni and these forms of F. offici- 

 nalis, Haussknecht admits three further varieties, viz. : jB minor, 

 near Wirtgeni, but separated by its emarginate fruits ; I clensiflora 

 Pari., with which Hammar's Ys^riety florihunda is identified ; and 

 e hanatia, a robust plant, with very broad leaf-segments and lax- 

 flowered racemes, collected in Hungary and said to be represented 

 by Keichenbach's figure of var. scandens. These varieties corre- 

 spond approximately to Hammar's minor, florihunda, and vulgaris, 

 and the scandens of the earlier author is apparently merged with 

 Haussknecht's form agrestis, wdiich is stated to include the F. 

 media of many writers. 



Among more recent works Willkomm & Lange's Flora His- 

 panica and Nicotra's Monograph take up Hammar's three varieties, 

 scandens, minor, and florihunda, the latter following with F. Wirt- 

 geni Koch as a separate species. Eouy & Foucaud's Flore de 

 France shows an arrangement of the varieties somewhat similar 

 but novel in its synonymy, viz. /3 media Coutinho {= F. media 

 Lois, et Eeichb. Icon.), y pycnantha Loret & Barr { = F. ahyssinica 

 Hamm. Mon.), 8 minor Koch, and e Wirtgeni { = F. Wirtgeni Koch, 

 F. ten2ii flora Hamm. Mon., F. officinalis var. scandens Reichb.). 

 All these varieties are ignored in Syme's English Botany and other 



