120 
THALICTRUM 
Not uncommon locally in Alpine and sub- Alpine situations, chiefly on damp rocks and peat- 
moors ; Wales — Carnarvonshire ; north of England — northern Pennines and the Lake District ; 
Scotland — rare in the south, rather common elsewhere; Ireland — local in the west, from co. Kerry 
to co. Donegal. 
Faeroes, Iceland, Scandinavia, and Arctic and sub- Arctic Europe generally, mountains of central 
Europe generally, Pyrenees; Asia; North America (including Greenland). 
Series ii. Minores 
Minores nobis. 
The British forms of T. minus and its immediate allies have never been placed on a satisfactory basis, though Babington 
made several attempts to do this. Syme’s account is unsatisfactory, and his illustrations very confusing. N. E. Brown’s work 
(.Eng. Bot. ed. 3, suppl.) is most careful and accurate ; and we follow his lead in many points. Our own account must not 
be regarded as in any way approaching finality, although we have examined the specimens at Kew, the British Museum 
(Natural History), Cambridge, and some private collections, and collected plants in many parts of the British Isles. We be- 
lieve there are several British forms which yet await identification. Rouy and Foucaud (op. cit.) name over 50 forms for 
France. We do not expect our own country to be so rich in Thalictra as France with its forms of central Europe, the 
western Alps, and the Mediterranean ; but some of our forms do not seem to have been described or, at least, do not 
seem to be well understood. Among these is the plant we identify as T. datum Jacquin. 
The characters of the fruit are unfortunately frequently obscured by the presence of insect-galls. 
Probably hybrids are numerous in localities where more than one form occurs. In some species (e.g., in T. purpurascens, 
a continental species), apogamy or pseudo-parthenogenesis has been proved to occur (see Overton in Bot. Gaz. xxxiii, 363-375 
(1902)); and this may complicate matters, as in the case of Hieradum (see Ostenfeld in New Phytol. xi, 347 (1912)) 
and Taraxacum. 
For characters, see page 119. 
British species of Minores 
2. T. minus (see below). Lateral leaflets usually longer than broad, often about 1*2 cm. long 
and ro cm. broad. Inflorescence rather dense-flowered. Peduncles rather divaricate or more or less 
ascending, not reflexed in fruit. Pedicels rather short (often about ro — 1*5 cm. long in fruit). 
Achenes broadly or narrowly elliptical. 
3. T. majus (p. 121). Lateral leaflets either a little longer than broad or about as long as 
broad, often about 1*5 — 17 broad. Inflorescence lax-flowered. Peduncles divaricate. Pedicels rather 
long (up to about 2 cm. in fruit). Achenes broadly or narrowly elliptical. 
4. T. elatum (p. 122). Lateral leaflets usually broader than long, often about 3 cm. broad. 
Inflorescence very lax, few-flowered. Peduncles divaricate or ascending. Pedicels long (up to 2 - o — 
2 ’5 cm. in fruit). Achenes broadly elliptical. 
2. THALICTRUM MINUS. Common Meadow-rue. Plates 118, 119, 120 
T. minus Gerard Herball 1067(1597); Ray Cat. Cantab. 162 (1660); Syn. ed. 3, 203 (1724). 
Thalictrum minus L. Sp. PI. 546(1753); Smith Eng. Bot. no. 11 (1791); FI. Brit. 584(1800); Rouy 
et Foucaud FI. France i, 11 (1893). 
Perennial. Rhizome of variable length. Shoots glandular or not, usually glabrous, up to about 
3 dm. high. Stem grooved, more or less zigzag. Petioles shorter than the laminae. Laminae tri- 
pinnate ; pinnae stalked ; segments of the pinnae sessile or nearly so, subcordate to cuneate at the 
base, more or less glaucous underneath, lateral ones usually longer than broad and often about 
1 '2 cm. long and ro broad. Inflorescence many-flowered. Peduncles spreading to ascending, 
not bending over after flowering as in T. alpinum. Pedicels rather short, often about ro — 1‘5 cm. 
long in fruit. Flowers nodding; late May to early August. Anthers apiculate. Sepals 4. Achenes 
sessile, either broadly or narrowly elliptical, furrowed, 4 — 7 in each head. 
(a) T. minus var. vulgaris nobis; T. kochi Fries FI. Suec. Mant. iii, 46 (1842). 
leones: — Smith Eng. Bot. t. 11, as T. minus ; FI. Dan. t. 732; Jacquin FI. Austr. t. 419; Reichenbach 
Icon, iii, t. 27 (Ranunc.). 
Camb. Brit. Ft. iii. Plate 118. (a) Leaf, (b) Portion of stem (enlarged), (e) Portion of leaf (enlarged). 
(d) Inflorescence. (e) Head of achenes (enlarged). (f) Achenes (enlarged). Cambridgeshire (E. F. L.). 
