[ 1471 ]
FU MARIA solida.
Solid Bulbous Fumitory,
DIADELPHIA HEXANDRIA.
Gen. Char. Cal. 2-leaved. Cor. ringent. Filaments2, membranaceous, each bearing 3 antheræ.
Spec. Char. Stem mostly simple, erect. Leaves twiceternate. Bracteæ palmate, longer than the flower-stalk.
Syn. Fumaria solida. Linn. Mss. in Sp. PI. Sm. Fl.Brit. 748. Curt. Mag. t. 231.
F. bulbosa (2 et y. Linn. Sp. PI. 983.
F. intermedia. With. 620. t. 29. Hull. 157.
Radix cava minor. Ger. em. 1091.
In addition to the various parts of Westmoreland and War-wickshire , mentioned by Withering as truly wild stations ofthis plant, we can now name Wickham in Hampshire , asanother place where it is found, on the authority of the Rev.T. Garnier, who favoured us with this specimen. In countrygardens it is common, flowering in April.
Root perennial, bulbous, formed of several thick coats butnot hollow. Stem solitary, a span high, erect, a little zigzag,leafy, smooth, almost always simple, bearing a lanceolate sheathat the bottom. Leaves 2 or 3 , alternate, on stalks, smooth,twice ternate, cut. Spike solitary, terminal, simple, of severalpurple flowers pale and prominent at their base, which arecompared, by old writers, to little birds. Bracteæ wedge-shaped, palmate, rather longer than the flower-stalks. Spurcylindrical, bluntish. Pod short, bursting at its base.
The root and bracteæ, as well as the scale at the base ofthe stem, sufficiently distinguish this species from the Hollow-rooted Fumitory, which has not been observed wild in Bri-tain. —We find no specific distinction between the /3 and y ofLinnæus .