FQMARIACE2E. 35 



V. THE FUMITORY FAMILY. FUMARIACE^B. 



Delicate glabrous herbs, either annual or with a perennial root- 

 stock; the leaves much divided into distinct segments, and no 

 stipules. Flowers very irregular. Sepals 2, small and scale-like 

 Petals 4, in two pairs, the two outer united at the base and often 

 one or both spurred ; the two inner narrow, their crested tips 

 united over the stigma. Stamens 6, hypogynous, united into 2 

 sets of 3 each, the middle anther of each set having 2 cells, the 

 lateral ones 1 cell each. Ovary of a single cell, with 2 placentas 

 and several ovules, at least in a very young stage. Fruit a 1- 

 seeded nut, or a pod with several seeds. Embryo small, at the 

 base of the albumen. 



A small family, spread over the temperate regions of the northern 

 hemisphere, scarcely penetrating into the tropics, but reappearing in 

 southern Africa. It may be considered as a tribe of the JPopjoy family, 

 with which it agrees in the parts of the flower being in twos and in the 

 structure of the ovary, but differs in the irregular flowers and definite 

 stamens. 



Fruit a small roundish nut with one seed 1. Fumitory. 



Fruit an elongated pod with several seeds 2. Corydal. 



Some species of Dicentra or Dielytra, a North American and east 

 Asiatic genus, are cultivated for the beauty of their flowers. 



I. FUMITORY. FUMAKIA. 



One of the outer petals has a pouch or spur at its base. Eruit a 

 small roundish green nut with a single seed, although the very young 

 ovary is said to have three or four ovules, of which one only remains at 

 the time of flowering. 



A genus of very few species, all apparently indigenous to the Medi- 

 terranean region, although the common one is now so widely spread 

 over the globe. 



1. Common Fumitory. Fumaria officinalis, Linn. (Fig. 44) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 589.) 



A delicate annual, perfectly glabrous, and of a pale green colour, 

 usually forming, when it commences flowering, a dense tuft of a few inches 

 in height, but the stem will often grow out to the length of from 1 to 2 

 or 3 feet ; it is then generally weak or trailing, and sometimes slightly 

 climbing, supported by the twisted petioles. Leaves much divided 



