32 
BRITISH WILD FLOWERS. 
1. —THE COMMON FUMITORY. (Fumaria officinalis, Lin.') 
Engravings. —Eng. Bot., t. 589 ; 2d ed., t. 986 ; and our/#. 4, globose, abrupt, on upright stalks, twice as long as the bracteas. Stem 
in PI. 8. spreading. Segments of the leaflets lanceolate. (Smith.) 
Specific Character. —Cluster rather lax. Pods single-seeded, 
Description, &c. —This is an extremely common plant in every part of England, though it is only found 
in dry soils, and generally by the roadside, or in eorn-fields. Though the flowers do not possess any particular 
beauty, the general aspect of the plant is very pretty, from the feathery lightness of its deeply-cut glaucous 
leaves. The flowers are purple or red, and their shape somewhat resembles that of the flowers of F. 
capreolata , but they are smaller and less elegantly formed. One of the popular names of this plant is Bloody 
Man’s Thumb, and Shakspere calls it the “ rank Fumiter,” and places it among the weeds that Lear had 
crowned himself with in his madness. 
“ Crown’d with rank Fumiter and Furrow weeds, 
With Harlocks, Hemlock, Nettles, Cuckoo-flowers, 
Darnel, and all the idle weeds that grow 
In our sustaining corn .”—King Lear. 
2.— THE SMALL-FLOWERED FUMITORY. (Fumaria parviflora, Lam.) 
Engravings. —Eng. Bot., t. 590 ; 2d ed., t. 988. 1 pointed ; stem spreading ; segments of the leaflets linear, channelled. 
Specific Character.— Cluster lax ; pods single-seeded, globose, | (Smith.) 
Description, &c. —This species is found on sandy or dry chalky soils in the southern counties of England, 
particularly in Kent and Surrey. It grows generally in corn-fields, or rather on the pieces of waste ground 
near the hedges; and it bears considerable resemblance to the common Fumitory, but the flowers are still smaller, 
and the leaves more finely cut. There are two or three varieties : one with white flowers; another, the flowers 
of which are white tipped with purple, and the leaves glaucous; and a third with rose-coloured flowers and 
yellowish-green leaves. 
3.— THE RAMPING FUMITORY. (Fumaria capreolata, Lin.) 
Synonyme. —F. media, Lois. 
Engravings.— Eng. Bot., t. 943; 2d ed., t. 987 ; and our fig. 5, 
in PL 8. 
Specific Character. — Cluster rather lax; pods single-seeded, 
globose ; stem climbing by means of the twistiDg footstalks; leaflets 
wedge-shaped, lobed. (Smith.) 
Description, &c. —This species is one of the handsomest of all the kinds of Fumaria. It is 
common in every part of England, and in some parts of the Continent, though, singularly enough, it is not 
found in Sweden, where all the other species of this genus, and also of Corydalis, are extremely abundant. 
The old botanists fancied it a variety of the common Fumitory, but it is perfectly distinct from that plant, not 
only from the shape of its flowers, but from its climbing by the petioles of its leaves, in the same manner as the 
Clematis, in which it differs from every other species of Fumitory. The leaves are also bipinnate, and the 
leaflets generally very broad, except in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, where they are narrow. It is, 
however, a plant that varies very much in different situations; but the flowers are always very much 
handsomer and larger than those of the common Fumitory. It generally grows in corn-fields, or on heaps of 
rubbish by the roadside, and very often comes up as a weed in gardens. 
