RANUNCUI.ALE,F. 



twisting their petioles ; sepals 4, valvate, petaloid \ petals o ; 

 stamens many ; carpels many, i-ovuled ; fruit an etrerio of achenes 

 with long feathery awns. (Name from the Greek klhiia, a vine 

 shoot.) 



1. C. Vitdlba (Traveller's Joy). — The only British species. A 

 hedge shrub especially common on calcareous or chalky soils ; 

 well distinguished in summer by its numerous clusters of greenish- 

 white, sweet-scented flowers ; and still more conspicuous in autumn 

 and winter from its tufts of feathery-white fruits, whence it gets 

 the popular name of " Old Man's Beard." — Fl. May, June. 

 Perennial. 



2. THALfcTRUM (iMcadow-rue). — Perennial; leaves compound, 

 stipulate; stipules united to the leaf-stalk,; sepals 4 5, imbricate, 



petaloi|l.;/e'/i7/.$o ; i/awrai many, 

 yellow; catpels few, i-ovuled; 

 Jruit ah etx-rio of achenes with- 

 out awns. (Name from the 

 Greek tliallo, I flourish.) 



1. T.Alpiiiuin(X\]-)m(i Meadow- 

 rue). — SSfe/n unbranched ; leaves 

 bi-ternate ; glaucous beneath ; 



floivers- in a simple terminal 

 raceme; drooping ; sepals pur- 

 plish. ^A graceful little plant, 

 4 to 10 in. high, occurring on the 

 mountains of Wales and Scot- 

 land. — :KI. June— August. 



2. T. in'tnus (Lesser Meadow- 

 rue).— ^to;/ 6--1S in. high, 

 branched, rigid, zigzag, furrowed, 

 leafless at the base ; lea'-ves bi- or 

 tri-pinn?ite, stipulate, glaucous ; 

 stipules with spreading auricles ; 

 leaflets tcrnale, 3-cleft ; petioles 

 with angular, ascending branches; 

 foivers in a loose compound 



raceme with spreading or sub- 

 erect branches, drooping ; pedicels 

 slender • sepals 4, pale purplish or 

 yellow-green ; stamens conspicuDu,s, yellow, with apiculate anthers. 

 A form with broadly-spreading inflorescence occurs on sand-dunes, 

 one with more erect growth on dry stony pastures. — Fl. June- 

 August. 



thal/ctriim alI'Tnum {Alfiine Meadoiv-ruC), 



