THALICTRUM 
I 2 I 
Plate 1 1 p. (a) Leaf. ( b ) Inflorescence. ( c ) Stamen (enlarged), (d) Ovary (enlarged), (e) Heads of achenes. 
(/) Achenes (enlarged). Somerset (L. V.). 
Exsiccata : — Fries, vii, 25, as T. collinum ; Huter, 1139, as T. pubescens ; Reichenbach, 690, as T. flexuosum ; 
t. 691, as T. collinum ; Wirtgen, xvii, 944, as T. minus. 
The plate (t. 7) in Syme’s Eng. Bot., vol. i, named T. saxati/e is interesting. It is one of the new plates 1 specially 
prepared for Eng. Bot. ed. 3, and named T. saxatile. T. saxatile was by error given as a British plant by Babington 
in i860 (El. Carnb. p. 299). Babington here speculates regarding this plant — “if I am correct in believing that its flowers 
do not nod and that its carpels are nearly exactly oval...”; but, we may add, its flowers do nod and its carpels 
are elliptical. However, in the plate above cited, Syme supplies a figure which answers to Babington’s speculations, but 
which is unlike any known British plant. Curiously, whilst Syme’s figure is made to bear the erect flowers of the real 
T. saxatile , Syme queries this character in his description of the British plant. After many statements on the matter, 
Babington (in Bot. Exch. Club Brit. Is. Rep. for 1885, p. 122, and Rep. for 1890, p. 282) withdrew the name T. saxatile 
altogether. 
Usually a larger plant than var. dunense. Inflorescence less diffuse. Peduncles shorter. 
Calcareous grassland and sand-dunes ; this is the common form of the species. 
Europe. 
(b) T. minus var. dunense Babington Man. ed. 8, 4 (1881) ; T. dunense Dumortier FI. Belg. 126 (1827); 
N. E. Brown in Eng. Bot. ed. 3, suppl. 1 (1892); T. minus Fries FI. Suec. Mant. iii, 45 (1842)! sens, str., excl. 
syn. ; Babington in Ami. Nat. Hist. ser. 2, xi, 266(1853) partim ; T. minus subsp. dunense race dunense Rouy 
et Foucaud FI. France i, 22 (1893). 
leones : — Camb. Brit. FI. iii. Plate 120. (a) Leaf (b — c) Inflorescences, (d) Head of achenes (enlarged). 
b, from Devonshire (C. E. L.) : a, c, and d from Orkney (M. S.). 
Exsiccata : — Fries, vii, 23, as T. minus. 
Usually a small plant compared with var. vulgaris. Inflorescence more diffuse. Bracts like small 
leaves. Peduncles longer. Achenes usually twice as long as broad. 
In some ways this variety is a link connecting T. minus and T. majus. 
Sand-dunes, widespread but rather local and apparently absent on the southern and eastern coasts north- 
wards to Norfolk; from Devonshire and Lincolnshire (including Wales) northwards to Orkney. 
Sweden, Finland, Germany, Belgium, France, central Europe, Russia. 
Calcareous rocks and grassland, and sand-dunes; local, but widespread, in England and Ireland, 
rare in Wales and Scotland. 
Throughout Europe, except northern and Arctic, ascending to 2450 m. in Switzerland. 
3. THALICTRUM MAJUS. Large Meadow-rue. Plates 121, 122 
T. montanum minus foliis latioribus Lhwyd in Ray Syn. ed. 3, 204 (1724). 
Thalictrum majus Crantz FI. Austr. fasc. ii, 80 (1763); Jacquin FI. Austr. v, 9 (1778) ; Smith Eng. 
Bot. no. 61 1 (1799); FI. Brit. 585 (1800); Koch in Bot. Zeit. 428 (1841); Syn. ed. 2, 4 (1843); N. E. Brown 
in Eng. Bot. ed. 3, suppl., 4 (1892) emend. 
Closely allied to T. minus , differing from it in the following characters : — Shoot taller. Leaflets 
larger, lateral ones a little longer than broad, often about 1*5 — 17 broad. Inflorescence laxer and with 
fewer flowers. Peduncles divaricate. Pedicels longer (up to about 2 — 3 cm. long in fruit). 
(a) T. majus var. dumosum Koch Syn. 4(1837); T. flexuosum var. dumosum Fries FI. Suec. Mant. iii, 47 
(1842); T. flexuosum Babington in Ann. Nat. Hist. ser. 2, xi, 268 (1853) partim, non Bernhardi ; T. minus 
subsp. majus Rouy et Foucaud FI. France i, 16 (1893). 
leones: — Smith Eng. Bot. t. 61 1, as T. majus ; Jacquin FI. Austr. v, t. 420, as T. majus ; Reichenbach 
Icon, iii, t. 30, fig. 4629, as T. majus. 
1 Such new plates are usually distinguishable at a glance, as they are without the number, placed at the bottom left 
hand corner, of the original plates. However, some plates without the original number are partly repeated from the 
1 st edition; and many plates which are distinguished by the original number have been so altered, especially as regards 
the enlargements, that they are virtually new. It will be seen therefore that the practice of some botanists in purporting 
to cite plates of Eng. Bot. ed. 1 from the original number reproduced on the plates in ed. 3 causes confusion. 
M. III. 
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