AQUILEGIA. 



Thefe are perennial herbs, with fibrous roots. Radical, 

 or lower Jfem-leaves, on long three-cleit foolfia/h, divided in 

 a twice-ternate manner ; their kaj!ets three-cleft, toothed, 

 moilly obtufe : upper leaves cut, or deeply divided, into 

 linear lobes. Flo-wcrs terminal, blue, white, rofe-coloured, 

 or purple, very rarely of a dirty yellow. To which we may 

 add that the^omers are pendulous, fruit ereft. 



The herbage is fliglitly bitter, tonic or fomewhat aftrin- 

 gent, fcarcely acrid. Seeds acrid, recommended in eruptive 

 diforders. 



The various fpecies inhabit mountainous thickets and paf- 

 tures of the northern hemifphere ; one is found in America, 

 four in different parts of Europe, feven in Siberia. 



Obf. The fcales, originating in the dilatation of the 

 innermoft ^laments, and the abortion of their anthers, often 

 fun'ound the germcns like bradeas, after Xhejlotuer is paft. 

 They are dehneated in feveral of Barrelier's plates. Mr. 

 Brown has remarked fomething analogous in the petal-like 

 fcales of his Elpomatia ; fee that article hereafter. The 

 flowers in jlquilegia become double in four different 

 ways. I . Thofe termed corniculati have accelTory neBaries, 

 originating from changed Jlamens, all fpurred and pointing 

 downwards. 2. Inverfi have thcir_/Jiurj turned upwards, in 

 confequence of a twift in the claws of thofe parts. 3. Stel- 

 lati have acceflbry neBaries proceeding from enlarged Jila- 

 ments deprived of anthers ; fuch being all flat, and without 

 fpurs. 4. Degeneres have all their Jlamens, pijlils, and neBa- 

 ries obliterated, nothing remaining but multiplied petals 

 {^fepala of De CandoUe) of a gi-eenifh hue. 



We (hall follow our author, in a compendious review of 

 the fpecies, with fome neceflary alterations. They are not 

 leparated into fedtions. 



1 . A. milgaris. ( See Aquilegia, n. 2. ) Common 

 Columbine. Liiw. Sp. PI. 752. Willd. n. 2. Fl. Brit, 

 11. I. Engl. Bot. t. 297. Fl. Dan. t. 695. (Aquilegia; 

 Trag. Hift. I'i,-. Fuchf. Hift. 102. A. cserulea ; Ger. 

 Em. 1093, ^'^^' figures likewife of the feveral varieties 

 above-mentioned. Aquilina ; Matth. Valgr. v. i. 577. Ca- 

 mer. Epit. 404. varieties, 405. Ifopyrum Diofcoridis ; Co- 

 lumn. Phytob. I.t. I.) — Nedaries incurved. Capfules hairy. 

 Stem leafy, many -flowered. Leaves nearly fmooth. Styles 

 not overtopping the ftamens — Native of rather moift mea- 

 dows, woods and thickets, throughout Europe, from Swe- 

 den to Greece, flowering in July. Thunberg alfo found 

 this plant in Japan. Baron Marfchall von Bieberftein men- 

 lions it as occurring, though rarely, in the Iberian tra£l of 

 Caucafus. Nothing is more common, or more hardy, in 

 gardens ; its fanciful varieties being tolerably conftant from 

 feed, as far as they produce any. The root is rather tuber- 

 ous. Herb fmooth, two or three feet high. Leaves glau- 

 cous beneath. Flowers fomewhat panicled, pale violet in a 

 natural ftate, occafionally pink or white, larger and hand- 

 fomer than in any of their garden deformities. The alpina 

 of Hudfon, different from the real one, is a rather fmaller, 

 more flender, mountain variety, with tapering, lefs incurved, 

 n(Barles. We have gathered it at Matlock, Derbyfhire. 



2. A. vifcofa. (See Aquilegia, n. i.) Linn. Mant. 

 77. Willd. n. I. Ait. n. i. Gouan lUuftr. 33. t. 19. 

 " De Cand. Fr. ed. 3. v. 4. 912. v. 5. 640. (A. hirfuta, 

 florevifcofo; Magn. Monfp. 26. Hort. 21. A. montana, 

 flore parvo, thaliftri folio; Bauh, Pin. 144. Prodr. 75. 

 Lachcnal Aft. Helvet. v. 8. 146. t. 5. Bauh. Hifl;. v. 3. 

 484. Morif. feft. 12. t. I. f. 5, bad.) — Neftaries incurved. 

 Capfules hairy. Stem with very few flowers, almoft naked, 

 downy and vifcid as well as the leaves and flov/ers. Styles 

 not overtopping the ftamens. — Native of Switzerland, the 



i3t 



fouth of France, and all along the rocky hills of the Medi- 

 terranean. De Candolle concurs with Villars in opinion, 

 that this plant is only a variety of the foregoing. We have 

 never compared them in a living ftate, but the lingular vif- 

 cous moifture which covers the whole herb, efpecially the 

 fioiuers, and is vifibleeven in dried fpecimens, feems to indi- 

 cate an effential difference. The Jlowers too are larger, 

 while the plant is fmaller, fometimes fingle-flowered, and 

 the leaflets, with their fegments, are more wedge-fhaped. 

 Linnaeus however declares, Syft. Veg. ed. 13. 420, that 

 feeds of the vifcofa, from Gouan himfelf, produced the 

 •vulgaris. 



3. A. fpeciofa. Handfome-fiowered Columbine. De 

 Cand. n. 3, excluding the fynonyms. (A. vulgaris, daurica ; 

 Willd. n. 2, 9 ?) — Neftaries incurved; fpur the length of 

 the border. Capfules hairy. Stem leafy, many-flowered. 

 Flower -ilalks, footftalks, and backs of the leaves, dovimy. 



Styles taller than the ftamens." — Native Seen in a 



cultivated ftate by De Candolle, flowering in May and 

 June. He doubts whether his plant were diftinft from 

 A. vulgaris, as it differed only in the fpur and limb of each 

 neBary being of equal length, the former generally yellow at 

 the extremity, and the Jlyles rifing above the Jlamens during 

 the flowering. Fifcher and Perfoon, it feems, have men- 

 tioned a variety, in which the Jpurs are >sf the fame colour 

 as the limb. Whatever their plant may be, we are fatisfied 

 that the fynonyms of Aiton and Ehrhart belong to the 

 following. 



4. A. Jibirica, Siberian Party-coloured Columbine. 

 Lamarck n. 4. De Cand. n. 4. (A. vulgaris, fpeciofa ; 

 Ait. n. 2, }. Willd. n. 2, n. A. bicolor ; Ehrh. Beitr. 

 V. 7. 146. A. hybrida ; Sims in Curt. Mag. t. 1221 ? 

 De Cand. n. 11 ?) — Neftaries incurved. Germens and cap- 

 fules perfeftly fmooth. Styles taller than the ftamens. — 

 Native of Siberia. Linnaus cultivated this plant, and 

 found it did not alter. We received it in 1796, from the 

 garden of MefTrs. Lee and Kennedy, at Hammerfmith, who 

 had the feeds from that country. Specimens of the fame, 

 in tlie Linnaean herbarium, are marked as having been 

 gathered near Irkutfl-:. M. De Candolle juftly defcribes 

 " the radical leaves on long ftalks, fmooth, except perhaps 

 fome downinefs on the footjlalks ; their fegments obtufe, 

 broaefly notched. Stem hardly a foot high, moftly fmgle- 

 flowered, and entirely naked ; fometimes bearing two or 

 three Jlowers, with one or two leafy braBeas. Sepala {j>etals) 

 blue, oval, obtufe. NeBaries white, half as long, very 

 blunt. Capfules quite fmooth, by which charafter this fpe- 

 cies is readily diftinguifhed from all the foregoing, and per- 

 haps from all the reft." De Cand. Our wild fpecimens 

 have three or four flowers on each ftem, and the garden 

 ones are ftill more luxuriant. The Jlowers in both are pur- 

 plifh-blue, the lips of the neBaries cream-coloured, as ex- 

 prefied in Ehrhart's name, and Dr. Sims's figure. We 

 fnould have no hefitation about his fynonym, were it not for 

 the (light downinefs which he attributes to the herbage. 

 The proportion of his Jlyles is right, but he does not lay 

 any thing of the germens. We cannot but fufpeft the gar- 

 deners mixed feeds of the Siberian fpecies with the Canada 

 one, or pofTibly that pollen of the latter might have had 

 fome effeft on the flowers of the former, of which the 

 rather lefs curved neBaries of the offspring feem an indica- 

 tion ; the pale hue of their limb is exaftly that of ovir Jibirica, 

 The downy leaves do not accord with either. If we are 

 right, De Candolle's hybrida, n. II, muft be expunged. 

 Refpefting Gmelin's J. n» 16, Fl. Sib. v. 4. 185, we fup- 

 pofe by its laft fynonym, alluding to the party-coloured 



neBaries, 



