FUMARIA 
1 86 
above or about the middle, narrowed below to an almost obsolete neck nearly equalling the tip of the 
pedicel ; when dry, rugose with shallow and very broad apical pits : of moderate size, 2'o — 2^5 mm. long 
and at least as broad. 
{a) F. officinalis var. major Koch in Sturm Deutschl. FI. i, 62, t. 14, no. 14 (1833); F. officinalis Rouy et 
Foucaud FI. France i, 177 (1893) excl. vars. ; Pugsley Fum. Brit. 51 (1912) excl. vars. 
leones : — Eng. Bot. t. 589; Curtis FI. Lond. i, t. 147; Reichenbach Icon. { Papav .) t. 3, fig. 4454, as F. offi- 
cinalis. 
Camb. Brit. FI. iii. Plate 189. (a) Fertile branch, (b) Infructescence. ( c ) Flower (enlarged). ( d ) Upper 
petal seen from above (enlarged). ( e ) Lower petal seen from above (enlarged). (/) Sepals (two enlarged). 
(g) Fresh fruits (enlarged). ( h ) Dried fruits (enlarged). Huntingdonshire (E. W. H.). 
Exsiccata : — Exsicc. Austr.-Hung., 2901, as F. officinalis. 
Racemes usually with 20 — 30 flowers. Bracts about two-thirds as long as the moderately thick 
fruiting pedicels. Sepals generally 2^5 — 3 ‘5 mm. long. Corolla normally deeply coloured, with wings 
of the upper petal much exceeding the keel (paler and narrower in shade-forms), 7 — 9 mm. long. 
Fruit broadest above the middle, shortly obcordate or nearly obreniform, more frequently subemarginate 
than truncate, 2 — 2^5 mm. long and 2*5 — 3 broad. 
(/ 3 ) var. major subvar. scandens comb. nov. ; F. officinalis forma scandens Pugsley Fumit. Brit. 51 (1912). 
leones : — Reichenbach Icon. {Papav.), t. 3, fig. 4454, as F. officinalis var. scandens. 
Exsiccata : — De Heldreich {Hb. Grace. ), 1204, as F. officinalis var. media. 
Shoot very robust, often climbing, scarcely glaucous. La7ninae cut into larger, linear-oblong 
segments. 
This subvariety is very near to and perhaps identical with F. media Loiseleur {Notice 101 (1810)), and has been found 
in a few counties in the south of England. 
F. officinalis var. major is the commonest fumitory of the British Isles and of many parts of the mainland of Europe. 
It is exceedingly variable. The following forms of it have been distinguished by Haussknecht {op. cit.) : — (a) “floribunda 1 
this is erect and glaucous : its leaves have narrow segments : its corollas are deeply coloured : it blooms early in open fields. 
{/3) “agrestis”: this is a spreading, glaucescent plant, with broader leaf-segments and laxer racemes of duller purplish flowers, 
and is characteristic of summer root-crops, (y) “ umbrosa ” : this is of lax, diffuse or climbing habit, with broad, light green 
leaf-segments, and smaller and quite pale flowers ; and generally grows in shade : this shade-form is scarcely distinguishable 
from that of the other varieties of the species. 
{b) F. officinalis var. elegans Pugsley Fum. Brit. 52 (1912). 
leones : — Reichenbach Icon. {Papav.), t. 2, fig. 4453, as F. media. 
Exsiccata: — Billot, 214, as F. officinalis-, Fiori et Beguinot, ii, 1050, as F. officinalis ; herb. Pugsley, 241. 
Shoot usually rampant, glaucous. Leaves ample, cut into narrowly lanceolate segments. Racemes 
commonly with 30 — 40 flowers. Pedicels slender, usually about twice as long as the bracts, sometimes 
recurved in flower. Sepals often whitish, 2 — 3 mm. long. Corolla normally pale purplish-pink, rarely 
deeply coloured, about 7 mm. long; outer petals more narrowly winged than in var. major. Fruit 
rather small, shortly obcordate, less laterally compressed and more finely rugose than in var. major , 
about 2 mm. long and 2^5 broad. 
This is the most beautiful of the British forms of F. officinalis, and was formerly often confused with F. muralis and 
F. bastardi. The characters of the variety appear to be fairly uniform. 
Chalk districts south of the river Thames. 
Widely distributed in Western Europe. 
{c) F. officinalis var. minor Koch in Sturm Deutschl. FI. i, 62, t. 14, no. 14(1833); Hammar Monogr. 10 
(1857); Haussknecht in Flora lvi, 419 (1873); Pugsley Fum. Brit. 52 (1912). 
Exsiccata: — Orphanides {FI. Graeci) 519, as F. officinalis var. laxijlora ; herb. Marshall, 2551; herb. Pugs- 
ley, 262. 
Shoot slender, diffuse, much branched, glaucous. Leaves frequently with broad and obtuse seg- 
ments. Racemes rather lax, with 10 — 20 flowers. Sepals sometimes only acute, about 2 mm. long. 
Corolla often rather pale, 6 — 7 mm. long. Fruit usually subemarginate or obreniform as in var. 
major, 2 'o — 2*5 mm. long and 2^5 — 3^0 broad. 
This is an inconspicuous variety, characterised mainly by its relatively short racemes of small flowers with small sepals. 
Chalk districts of southern England, and doubtless elsewhere. 
Widely distributed on the European mainland. 
1 Every fumitory has its “floribunda,” “agrestis,” and “umbrosa” forms; and I do not adopt these as formal names. 
