THE GENUS FUMARIA IN BRITAIN 53 



usually showing a small, persistent apiculus, broadest about the 

 middle, and narrowed below to a neck less obscure than in the 

 type ; when dry, with well-marked rugosity and very shallow 

 apical pits. 



Distrihution. — F. officinalis occurs, according to Haussknecht, 

 throughout the European continent, except the extreme north, 

 and extends through Asia Minor to Persia and Arabia, as well as 

 to Siberia across the Urals. It is also found along the north 

 coast of Africa and in the Canaries, and has been introduced on 

 the American continent, though seemingly less extensively so 

 than F. cap'eolata and F. agraria. In Europe it appears to be 

 the most generally distributed and most abundant species of the 

 genus, but its range does not extend so far eastward into Asia as 

 with some of the MicrosepalcB, and it does not naturally reach the 

 southern hemisphere like F. muralis. 



It is interesting to note that a specimen in the British Museum 

 from Herb. Pallas is labelled " In rupestribus Tauriae ubique," 

 as it may be inferred from this that in the Crimea it flourishes in 

 natural habitats, and hence that district may possibly be its 

 original home. 



The species is known to occur in the following countries : — 



Sweden. Finland {Hh. Keiu) ! West Kussia ! Poland ! Ger- 

 many ! Tyrol! Switzerland!! France! Spain! Portugal! 

 Corsica! Ssovdinia, {Hb. Keiv) I Italy! Sicily! Austria! Hun- 

 gary I Istria I Dalmatia ! Herzegovina {Hb. Keio) \ Greece ! 

 Crimea ! 



Anatolia! Pisidia ! Syria I Persia (IZ"awss^.). 



Algeria {Hb. Keio) ! Morocco {Hb. Keiv) ! Canaries. 



Canada {Hb. Keio) ! New Granada ! Argentina {Hb. Keio) ! 



Of the variety elegans I have seen French and German speci- 

 mens ; of var. Wirtgeni, examples from Germany only, but it is 

 recorded by Haussknecht also for France, Switzerland, Tyrol, 

 Dalmatia and Bohemia. The variety minor is recorded for Ger- 

 many, France, Spain, Sicily, Austria and Dalmatia. 



F. officinalis is found, as may be expected, in the Channel 

 Islands, where the var. Wirtgeni has also been collected, and the 

 species is shown by Mr. Praeger's list to be widely though not 

 universally distributed in the Irish counties from Cork to Antrim. 



In Great Britain it is the commonest and most widely spread 

 member of the genus, and has been recorded in Topographical 

 Botany and its Supplement for every vice-county except 48 

 (Merioneth), 98 (Argyll) and 104 (North Ebudes), in which dis- 

 tricts it has very possibly been overlooked. It seems to affect 

 almost every kind of cultivated ground, provided the soil is 

 fairly light, but, like F. Bastardi, is rarely seen on w^alls or 

 hedge-banks. 



The three varieties elegans, Wirtgeni, and minor are of much 

 less frequent occurrence and seem to be chiefly found in the 

 South of England, and especially in the chalk districts of Kent 

 and Surrey, where I have gathered the two first-named growing 

 in company but keeping perfectly distinct. 



