Thalictrum Thalictrum, L.

9. T. minus L. View in CoL , Sp. Pl. 546 (1753).

Glabrous or somewhat glandular perennial 15-150 cm, subcaespitose or rhizomatous. Basal leaves 3- to 4-ternate, without stipels; leaflets suborbicular or broadly ovate, irregularly lobed or dentate in the upper half. Inflorescence with long branches. Flowers yellowish, pendent, becoming erect. Filaments filiform. Stigma not fimbriate. Fruit erect; achenes 3-15, sessile, not or slightly compressed, broadly ovoid to narrowly oblong-ovoid, ribs not very strong; beak much shorter than achene. Most of Europe. All except Az BI Fa Is Sb Tu.

The following grouping into subspecies is provisional, in the absence of thorough experimental and cytological investigation of the species. Achene-size and -shape and the presence or absence of glandular hairs seem at present to be valueless as characters. 1 Leaves crowded at or below the middle of the stem; leaflets with prominent veins beneath (c) subsp. saxatile 1 Leaves ±evenly spaced; leaflets without prominent veins beneath

2 Plant densely glandular, at least on the lower surface of the leaflets (d) subsp. pubescens 2 Plant not or scarcely glandular

3 Branches of the leaf-rhachis terete or flattened

(e) subsp. pseudominus 3 Branches of the leaf-rhachis strongly ribbed

4 Stigmas strongly fimbriate (arctic) (f) subsp. kemense 4 Stigmas minutely papillose

5 Leaflets usually 4-15 mm wide; panicle branching above the middle of the stem (a) subsp. minus

5 Leaflets usually 10-30 mm wide; panicle branching from about the middle of the stem (b) subsp. majus