FUMARIA 
171 
Huntingdonshire) in eastern England ; local in Ireland, from co. Waterford to co. Dublin, with 
an outlier in co. Donegal. 
South-western Norway, Denmark, northern Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, north-western 
Spain, Portugal. 
Genus 2. Fumaria 
By H. W. PUGSLEY, B.A. 
Fumaria [Tournefort Inst. 421, t. 237 (1700) partim] L. Sp. PI. 699 (1753) et Gen. PI. ed. 5, 314 (1754) 
pro min. parte; Gaertner, Fruct. ii, 162 (1791) partim ; DC. Syst. Nat. ii, 130 (1821) partim ; Bernhardi in Linnaea 
viii, 471 (1833); Hammar in Nov. Act. Upsal. ser. 3, ii, 258 ( Monogr . Gen. Fumit } 2) (1857); Bentham and 
Hooker Gen. PI. i, 56 (1862) partim ; Prantl und Kiindig in Pflanzenfam. iii, pt. ii, 143 et 145 (1891) partim ; Rouy 
et Foucaud FI. France i, 170 (1893); Pugsley in Jonrn. Bot. 1 , suppl. i ( Fumaria in Britain 2 1 et 5) (1912). 
Annual, rarely perennial herbs, usually of diffuse habit, often climbing by twisted petioles. Leaves 
alternate, upper sessile, all irregularly 2 — 3 (rarely 4) pinnatisect, with leaflets cut into lobes of greatly 
varying breadth. Pedicels bracteate. Bracts membranous. Flowers homogamous, and frequently 
more or less cleistogamous. Sepals membranous, 1 -nerved. Petals white or pink, variously marked 
with blackish-red or purple about the apex ; “ upper ” one only with the basal spur, and with a thickened 
green keel towards the apex, with margins generally produced as wings which are either patent or 
reflexed upwards over the keel; “lower” one much narrower than the “upper” one, channelled, with a 
green keel towards the apex, with margins sometimes obsolescent and erect, sometimes broader and 
spreading outwards ; inner petals both alike, narrow at the base but broader above with 3 winged 
nerves, coherent at the apex and connate below with the “upper” petal. Stamens included, the 
“upper” often provided with a nectary. Filament opposite the spurred petal also spurred. Style 
caducous, filiform, not exserted. Stigma 2-lobed. Fruit indehiscent, subglobose but somewhat laterally 
compressed, 1 -seeded, with a small cleft in the “mesocarp” at each side of the apex appearing as a 
small hollow or pit when dry, and with the “exocarp” frequently furnished with tubercles. Seed 
without an aril. Cotyledons linear. 
All the British species belong to the section Sphaerocapnos (DC. Syst. Nat. ii, 131 (1821)) which comprises all the annual 
fumitories with a racemose inflorescence and subglobose fruits, and contains about 40 species. The members of the section 
Petrocapnos (Cosson in Bull. Bot. Soc. France ii, 305 (1855)) are perennial plants with short stems and a corymbose inflorescence: 
they are confined to northern Africa and southern Spain. 
The confusion that has commonly attended the identification of plants of this genus is largely due to their general tendency 
to cleistogamy, involving a depauperation of the corolla. A perfect flower of Fumaria has the corolla fully coloured and winged, 
and provided with a nectary; and the lower petal is deflexed and free. In some species, the nectary is rarely present; and, in all, 
the four petals frequently remain coherent. Moreover, when a fumitory is growing in uncongenial conditions, not only do its four 
petals cohere, but they may fail to reach their normal size and to develop their characteristic wings and colouring. They then 
appear quite unlike their normal form. As the flowers in the British forms are uniformly self-pollinated, however, the fruit in such 
cases is unaffected; and the flowers, at least in the British Isles, appear to be rarely visited by insects. As might be consequently 
expected, hybrids are of rare occurrence; and the few individuals that have been determined as hybrids have been entirely barren. 
In the British Isles, all the fumitories are primarily weeds of cultivated ground ; but the large-flowered species also occur on 
hedgebanks and walls and other situations where the surface soil is subject to periodical disturbance. In suitable seasons and 
according to the tillage of the ground, all the species may be found in flower from spring to autumn ; but a considerable degree 
of moisture is necessary for the germination of the seeds ; and in dry summers they are often absent from their accustomed 
haunts. 
About 45 species ; throughout Europe, except the extreme north ; western and central Asia ; 
North Africa, Atlantic Islands ; America (not indigenous). 
British subsections of Sphaerocapnos 
Subsection i. Grandiflora (p. 172). Leaf-segments flat, broadly oval to oblong or lanceolate, 
frequently mucronate. Flowers normally larger than those of F. officinalis, exceeding 9 mm. in 
length. Upper petal (in good flowers) with wings upwardly reflexed. Lower petal with erect or 
spreading margins, little (if at all) dilated towards the apex. Inner petals more or less curved 
upwards. 
Subsection ii. Parviflora (p. 183). Leaf -segments flat or channelled, oblong or lanceolate to 
linear or setaceous, occasionally mucronate. Flowers not larger than those of F. officinalis, not 
1 This is the separate copy, which is differently paged from the original. 
2 This is the separate copy, and is paged as in the original. 
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