THALICTRUM 
123 
5 * THALICTRUM FLAVUM. Marsh Meadow-rue. Plate 124 
T. seu Thalictrum majus Gerard Herball 1067 (1597); Ray Syn. ed. 3, 203 (1724). 
Thalictrum flavum L. Sp. PI. 546 (1753)!; Smith Eng. Bot. no. 367 (1797)!; FI. Brit. 585 (1800); 
Syme Eng. Bot. i, 9 (1863); Rouy et Foucaud FI. France i, 31 (1893). 
leones: Smith Eng. Bot. t. 367; FI. Dan. t. 939; Sv. Bot. t. 328; Reichenbach Icon, iii, t. 43, fig. 4638, 
as T. nigricans ; t. 44, fig. 4639 ; t. 45, fig. 4640, as T. morisoni. 
Camb. Brit. FI. iii. Plate 12 p. (a) Stem-leaf, (b) Upper portion of plant, (c) Heads of achenes (one enlarged). 
(d) Achenes (one enlarged), (e) Achenes infested by insect-larvae (two enlarged). Huntingdonshire (R. S. A.). 
Exsiccata : Billot, 2602 ; Ehrhart (PI. Off.), 356, as T. flavum ; Fries, ix, 25 ; Reichenbach, 692, as T. nigrica?is 
(with very narrow leaf-lobes); Wirtgen, x, 544; Herb. FI. Ingric., i, 4. 
Map 48. Distribution of Thalictrum flavum in the British Islands 
Perennial. Rhizome creeping. Shoot up to 1 ‘2 m. high. Petioles of the lower leaves as long 
as the laminae. Laminae bipinnate ; lobes of the pinnae sessile, cuneate at the base, 3 — 5 lobed at 
the apex, lateral ones much longer than broad; lobules obtuse. Inflorescence compound, crowded 
with flowers. Peduncles ascending at a rather narrow angle. Bracts — lower ones leaf-like. Pedicels 
short (up to about 1 cm. long in fruit). Flowers erect; July. Anthers not apiculate. Achenes i'5 — 
2 'o times as long as broad. 
The drawing of our Plate 124 seems to conform to T. morisoni Reichenbach (Icon, iii, t. 45, fig. 4640), on account of its 
narrow fruit. Forms with shorter and relatively broader achenes are also British, and are T. flavutn Reichenbach (op. cit. 
fig. 4639). Intermediate fruit-forms occur (cf. Syme op. cit. p. 9, et t. 8). There is also great variability in the species regarding 
the size of the inflorescence ; but Mr J. Groves and Mr W. H. Beeby (Bot. Exch. Club Brit. Is. Rep. for 1895, 466) both 
agree that the shape of the inflorescence and fruit do not always go together. 
Fens and river-banks, locally abundant ; confined to soils where both the water-content and the 
mineral-content are high, chiefly in low-lying lands ; from Dorset and Kent northwards to Argyllshire 
and Fifeshire; Ireland — chiefly in the central plain. 
Scandinavia, Denmark, Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, central Europe, Russia, south-eastern 
Europe. 
16 — 2 
