North America (1768). It is but a few inches high, with whorled leaves and white flowers, produced in May. There is a variety with double flowers.
T. aquilegifolium (Columbine-leaved). Feather Columbine. Grows to a height of 3 or 4 feet with a slender stem, and glaucous wedge-shaped leaflets frequently tinged with purple. Flowers yellowish white, produced in masses; stamens purple; May to July. The following varieties are also in cultivation:—Var. atropurpureum has dark purple stems and stamens; var. formosum, also with dark purple stamens; but with dilated tips; var. roseum, with rosy-red sepals; var. rubrum, with red stamens.
T. Delavayi (Delavay's). Introduced from China in 1890. It has slender stems, 3 feet high, blue-green, much-divided leaves, and loose panicles of pale purple flowers; midsummer. A very handsome plant for the herbaceous border or rock-garden.
T. flavum (yellow). Fen Rue. Our second British species has a creeping yellow rootstock, stout furrowed stem, 2 to 4 feet; small pale yellow sepals and bright yellow anthers; July and August. There are several natural varieties, but they are of interest only to botanists.
T. glaucum (glaucous). A native of South Europe (1798). A robust species, 4 or 5 feet high, with blue-green foliage, and yellow flowers in an erect dense panicle; June and July.
T. minus (lesser) is also a native, of similarly robust habit with T. flavum (1 to 4 feet), but with yellow-green sepals, and drooping flowers; July and August. There are several good garden varieties, such as var. adiantifolium with maidenhair-like leaves.
T. tuberosum (tuberous). Introduced from Spain 1713. Grows to a height of 9 feet, and has large panicles of creamy flowers.
Culture and
Propagation
Any good soil will suit these plants. A border that is backed by shrubbery or a wall is a good place for them; the taller-growing, of course, being planted in the rear. The coarser sorts are useful for the wild garden. T. flavum, T. minus, and its varieties, succeed best in chalky or limestone soil. All the species are hardy perennials, and may be propagated by division of the rootstock in autumn or spring. They may also he raised from seed sown in pans in a frame in February, or in the open border in April or May. The seedlings should be transplanted as soon as they are large enough to be handled, or they may be thinned out if in the position they are intended to occupy permanently.
Description of
Plate 2.
The species figured is the so-called Feathery Columbine, Thalictrum aquilegifolium and in Fig. 1 a single blossom is drawn larger than the natural size, in order to show the structure more clearly.
