THALICTRUM. 



rally fuppofcd. the OxX.^r^o of Diofcorides, \-om whom 

 the name is adopted. That point, however, was not deter- 

 mined by Dr. Sibthorp, though he noticed five fpecies of 

 this genus in Greece or its utM;rhbourhood. The above 

 name is, by Ambrofini and others, derived from OaXXv, /» 

 ie green and fouri /ling. Some old authors occafionally write 



it Thalietrum Linn. Gen. 280. Schreb. 277. WiUd. 



Sp. PI. v. 2. 1295. Mart. Mill. Dia. V. 4. Sm. Fl. 

 Brit. 583. Prodr. Fl. Grscc. Sibth. v. 1. 378. Ait. 

 Hort. Kew. V. 3. 346. PurQl 388. JufT. 232. Tourn. 

 t. 143. Lamarck lUuftr. t. 497. Gaertn. t. 74 — Clafs 

 and order, Polyandria Polygynia. Nat. Ord. Mulfijiliqua, 

 Linn. Ranunculacetr, Juil. 



Gen. Ch. Cal. none, except the corolla be taken for 

 fuch. Cor. Petals four or five, roundilh, obtufe, concave, 

 deciduous. Stam. Filaments numerous, dilated upwards, 

 comprcfFed, longer than the corolla ; anthers terminal, ob- 

 Jong, ercft. Pijl. Germens fuperior, numerous, moftly 

 llalked, roundilh ; ftyles none ; ftigmas thickifh. There 

 are alfo fcveral very fhort imperfeft pillils. Feric. none. 

 Seeds feveral, ovate, furrowed, without any appendage. 



EfT. Ch. Calyx none. Petals four or five. Seeds 

 naked, without appendages. 



Obf. Linnscus remarks, that his T. tuherofum and cor- 

 nutum have five petals ; d'loicum has the ftamens and piftils 

 on feparate plants ; aquikg'ifollum and contorlum have (talked 

 pendulous feeds, furnilhcd with three dilated or winged an- 

 gles ; moreover, that the number of ftamens and piftils dif- 

 fers in the different fpecies, being fomeCimes lefs than the 

 charafters of the clafs and order require. 



This is a very diftinft well-marked genus of perennial 

 herbaceous plants, all natives of the cold or temperate 

 climates of Europe and North America. The leanies are 

 compound, with roundifh, rarely oblong, lobed or notched 

 leaflets ; paler, or glaucous, underneath ; ufually fmooth. 

 Injlorejcence panicled. Flotvers white or yellowifh, with 

 fome (light tinge of purple, generally of an elegant feathery 

 appearance. Fourteen fpecies are defcribed in Linn. Sp. 

 PI. ; twenty-one in Sylt. Veg. ed. 14. Willdenow has 

 twenty-three. Four are Britifh. Nineteen are enumerated 

 in Mr. Aiton's Horlus Kewenfis. Their qualities in ge- 

 neral are believed to be of an acrid nature, like thofe of 

 Ranunculus and Clematis ; but milder. 



We have fome additions and corrections to make, which 

 require a compendious review of the whole genus. 



1. T. alpinum. Alpine Meado'W-Rue. Linn. Sp. PI. 

 767. Willd. n. I. Fl. Brit. n. i. Engl. Bot. t. 262. 

 Lightf. 286. t. 13. f. I. Fl. Dan. t. 11. (T. mini- 

 mum montanum atro-rubens, foliis fplcndentibus ; Rail 

 Syn. 204. Boerh. Ind. Alt. v. i. 44. t. I.) — Stem per- 

 feftly fimple, and almoft naked. Clufter fimple, termi- 

 nal. — Native of moift black bogs, or the turfy margins 

 of alpine rills, on the loftieft mountains of Lapland, Scot- 

 land, and Wales, flowering in June. The root is peren- 

 nial, creeping, with a few fimple fibres. Stem erett, about 

 fix inches high, round, glaucous or purplifii, with one leaf, 

 more or lefs compound, aboi(t the middle. Radical leaves 

 feveral, ftalked, erect, half as tall as the ftem ; firlt ternate ; 

 then either again ternate, or pinnate ; the leaflets roundifh, 

 or wedge-fhaped, veiny ; glaucous beneath. Clujler at firft 

 drooping, then ereft, of eight or ten alternate fio'-juers, 

 whofe petals, and eight or \^n filaments , are either white or 

 purple ; their anthers orange. Germens two or four only, 

 roundifh, green, each with a whitifh, broadly-lanceolate, 

 divaricated, Aovinj figma, about its own length. Linnseus 

 ■defcribes twelve Jlamens, and eight fi/lils. 



2. T. falidum. Fatid Meadow-rue. Linn. Sp. Pi. 



768. Willd. n. 2. Ait. 11. 2. « Waldll. el Kilaih- 

 Hung. v. 2. 190. t. 174." (T. minimum foetidiflimum 5 

 Bauh. Prodr. 147. Pluk. Phyt. t. 65. f. 4. Morif- 

 fea. 9. t. 20. f. 13. T. n. 1140 ; Hall. Hift. v. 2. 58.) 

 — Stem panicled, round, leafy. Leaves triply compound, 

 minutely downy on both fides. Flowers drooping. Petals 

 flightly hairy. Stigmas auricled at the bafe — Native of. 

 Franco, Switzerland, and Siberia, flowering in May. A. 

 fpecies of a delicate afpeft, and glaucous hue, about a foot 

 high, with innumerable, fmall, rounded, lobed, tender leaf- 

 lets. The petals are externally reddifh, efpecially in the 

 young plant, and finely downy or haiiy. Stamens long and 

 capillary. Seeds ovate, ftrongly furrowed, crowned with 

 the permanent fhrivelled fligmas, whofe dilated or auricled 

 bafe is diftinguifhable in our Swifs fpecimens. This laft 

 character is, in the Stippkmentum, p. 271, made the pecu- 

 liar mark of T.Jlyloideum, there defcribed from a Siberian 

 fpccimen, which Linnaeus did not recognize as his own 

 T.faiidum. The fyloidenm, Willd. n. 22, is therefore to 

 be ftruck out. Several Swifs botanifts have confounded the 

 fpecies before us with T. tnimis, hereafter defcribed, which 

 is Haller's n. 1 1 39. That eminent writer had fome doubts 

 refpefting the difference between the two, which we (hall 

 attempt to remove when we come to the other, Linnxus 

 having placed them far afunder. The fatidum is faid to ex- 

 hale a very bad and powerful odour, like Geranium robertia- 

 num, or, as Haller fays, the urine of cats. 



3. T. tuherofum. Tuberous-rooted Meadow-rue. Linn. 

 Sp. PI. 768. Willd. n. 3. Ait. n. 3. Mill. Ic. v. 2. 

 177. t. 265. f. 2. (Oenanthe Myconi ; Dalech. Hift. 785. 

 Ranunculus thalidtri folio minor, afphodeli radice ; Morif. 

 feft. 4. t. 28. f. 13.) — Leaflets rounded, glaucous, fmooth. 

 Petals five. Root tuberous. — Native of Spain and the 

 Pyrenees. A hardy perennial in our gardens, flowering in 

 June, but confined to the more curious coUeftions. The 

 root confifts of ovate knobs. Herb fmooth, a foot or more 

 in height, of a light glaucous green. Flowers panicled, 

 not numerous, diftinguifhed by their five large, ovate, white 

 petals, and {mdHJligmas. Morifon's figure is badly copied 

 from that of Dalechamp. 



4. T. Cornuti. Canadian Meadow'-rue. Linn. Sp. PI. 

 768. Willd. n. 4. Ait. n. 4. Purfli n. i. (T. cana- 

 denfe ; Cornut. Canad. 186. t. 187. T. femine triquetro, 

 fohis aquilegis ; Morif. feft. 9. t. 20. f. 15.) — Leaflets 

 rounded, three-lobed, glaucous, fmooth. Panicles terminal. 

 Flowers dioecious. Petals five. Root fibrous. — On the 

 banks of rivers, and in wet meadows, from Canada to 

 New England, flowering in June and July. Root perennial. 

 Stem from two to three feet high. Flo-wers fmall, greertifh- 

 yellow. Purjh. Cornuti fays the unexpanded petals are 

 pale purple ; the Jlamens white, numerous, with yellow 

 anthers. Seeds triangular. The dioecious nature of the 

 flowers, which we have had no opportunity of obferving, 

 was firft noticed in Hort. Kew. 



5. T. dioicum. Dioecious Early Meadow-i-ue. Linn. 

 Sp. PI. 768. Willd. n. 5. Ait. n. 5. Purfli n. 2. 

 Muhlenb. Cat. 54. — Leaflets heart -fhaped, many-lobed, 

 very fmooth. Panicles axillary. Flowers dioecious. Petals 

 not longer than the filaments or germens. Stigmas almoft 

 capillary. — Native of fhady woods and the banks of rivers, 

 from Canada to Virginia, flowering from May to July, ac- 

 cording to Purfh, who fays the //oa-fz-j are white. He con- 

 ceives his plant to be the fam.e vnih T. U-vigatum of Michaux, 

 Fl. Boreali-Amer. v. i. 322, who confeffes his inability to 

 determine the North American Thali&ra, they being almoft 

 all dioecious. Specimens from the late Dr. Muhlenberg, now 

 before us, and agreeing exaiitly with thofe fent by Kahn to 



Linnxus, 



