Description of
Plate 1.
Fig. 1, C. patens aureliana, a single form with eight sepals. Fig. 2, a double form, C. patens sophia. The figure to the left of the Plate is a stamen, the upper portion being the anther which contains the pollen or fertilising meal.
MEADOW RUES
Natural Order Ranunculaceæ. Genus Thalictrum
Thalictrum (the classical name), a genus of about fifty species, widely distributed in the temperate and colder regions of the Northern Hemisphere; three species being British. They are perennial herbs distinguished by their graceful much-divided {compound) leaves, with stipules, the absence of petals, and the great development of the stamens in proportion to the size of the four or five sepals. The carpels each contain a single ovule, and develop into a miniature nut, called an achene; a number of these gathered into a head constitute the fruit. The flower-cluster is a panicle or raceme. It is to the great number and large size of the stamens that the feathery appearance of the flower-cluster is due in certain species. As the pollen is shed it is borne by the wind to the stigmas of other flowers, and this method of fertilisation explains why the sepals are not showy, and why the flower produces no honey. The stigmas come to maturity before the anthers shed their pollen, so that self-fertilisation is not likely to occur.
History.
Thalietrums have been cultivated in gardens for nearly two centuries, T. cornuti being apparently the first foreign species to be introduced. T. aquilegifolium, the best known of the cultivated kinds, was introduced from the Continent in 1731. Owing to the smallness of the flowers, the species are esteemed chiefly on account of their light and elegant, much-divided foliage, in which respect some of them rival maidenhair ferns.
Species and
varieties.
The most popular of the species in gardens today are T. aquilegifolium, 'T. alpinum', T. anemonoides, T. Delavayi, T. flavum, T. tuberosum, and T. minus.
Thalictrum alpinum (Alpine Meadow Rue) is a native, not more than a foot high, with unbranched wiry stem, and a few purplish flowers, at first drooping, erect later; July and August. Leaflets almost round, bluntly lobed. Often increases by means of runners. Wild in northern mountain bogs.
T. anemonoides (Anemone-like). Rue Anemone. A native of
