Fumariaceae
Fumaria
fumitory family
fumeterre, fumitory, ramping-fumitory
when present leafy, erect to prostrate or climbing, simple or branching.
erect to reclining, branching.
basal and/or cauline, alternate, mostly compound, sometimes simple, without stipules, petiolate;
blade with 2-6 odd-pinnate orders of leaflets and/or lobes.
cauline, sometimes also basal, compound;
blade with 3-4 orders of leaflets and lobes, margins entire, surfaces glabrous.
terminal, axillary, extra-axillary, or leaf-opposed, unifloral or else multifloral and thyrsoid, paniculate, racemose, or corymbose;
peduncles present;
bracts present.
terminal on main stem and leaf-opposed branches, racemose.
bilaterally symmetric about 1 plane or each of 2 perpendicular planes;
pedicel present;
sepals caducous or persistent, 2, thin;
petals 4, distinct or coherent basally to almost completely connate, in 2 whorls of 2;
outer petals alike or dissimilar, 1 or both sometimes swollen or spurred basally;
inner petals alike, apically connate, clawed, with somewhat hollow, membranous, wrinkled, abaxial median crests;
stamens 6, in 2 bundles of 3 each, opposite outer petals;
filaments of each bundle partially to completely connate, sometimes basally adnate to petals, with basal nectariferous tissue often in form of spur;
anthers connivent, adhering to stigma, median anthers 2-locular, lateral anthers 1-locular;
pistil 1, 2-carpellate;
ovary 1-locular;
placentae parietal;
style threadlike, rigid;
stigma 1, compressed, with 2 lobes or apical horns, and/or 2-8 papillar stigmatic surfaces.
bilaterally symmetric about 1 plane;
sepals peltate with attachment near base, ovate, base rounded, margins ± lacerate, apex acute to acuminate;
outer petals inconspicuously crested, one basally spurred;
stamens with filaments of each bundle completely connate, adhering basally to petals;
ovary ovoid;
style promptly deciduous after anthesis, elongate;
stigma ± 2-lobed.
capsular, indehiscent or dehiscent and valvate.
indehiscent.
1-many, small, elaiosome (oil-bearing appendage) often present.
1, elaiosome absent.
Fumariaceae
Fumaria
Genera 19, species ca. 450 (4 genera, 23 species in the flora).
The genera of Fumariaceae are distributed mostly in the Old World and primarily in temperate Eurasia. One acaulescent species of Dicentra occurs in Siberia, Kamchatka, and Japan; a caulescent species is found in western China and northern Burma; and nine climbing species are distributed throughout the Himalayan area and Burma. More than 400 taxa of Corydalis and 50 of Fumaria, distributed primarily throughout temperate, often montane, regions of Eurasia and Africa, have been described. Adlumia comprises only two species, which are quite similar morphologically, one from North America and the other from East Asia.
Most European and some American systematists treat Fumariaceae as a subfamily of Papaveraceae. However, although a few taxa are morphologically intermediate, the members of Fumariaceae generally are quite distinct from those of Papaveraceae in several respects, including floral symmetry, sap character, and stamen number and fusion.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Species ca. 50 (3 in the flora).
Fumaria parviflora Lamarck was reported as adventive from Europe in central Texas by D. S. Correll and M. C. Johnston (1970) and in central and southern coastal California by J. C. Hickman (1993). In the former treatment F. parviflora is said to differ from F. officinalis by having leaf segments with channeled lobes, and capsules obtuse to apiculate or beaked, while in the latter treatment it is reported to differ from that species by having shorter (3-4 mm), cream-colored petals, the inner ones tipped purple, and ± crested capsules. Evidently, the species is found in North America only as a waif and is not naturalized here. Fumaria martinii Clavaud, a synonym of F. reuteri Boissier according to M. Lidén (1986), was reported from southwestern British Columbia by B. Boivin (1966), but I have not seen specimens. Fumaria bastardii Boreau also has been reported from British Columbia, as an infrequent garden escape on roadsides, in waste places, and at forest edges in the southern part of the province (G. W. Douglas et al. 1989). It differs from F. officinalis in that the corolla is dark pink and 10-12 mm long.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Petals almost completely connate, spongy; plants climbing, petiolules and reduced leaflets twining and tendril-like. | Adlumia |
1. Petals coherent or connate only basally, not spongy; plants not climbing. | → 2 |
2. Both outer petals swollen or spurred basally. | Dicentra |
2. Only 1 outer petal swollen or spurred basally. | → 3 |
3. Fruit an elongate, dehiscent capsule; seeds more than 1, with elaiosome. | Corydalis |
3. Fruit a ± globose, indehiscent capsule; seeds 1, without elaiosome. | Fumaria |
1. Pedicels rigidly arcuate-recurved in fruit; capsules smooth or nearly so; corolla 9–14 mm. | F. capreolata |
1. Pedicels straight and spreading to ascending in fruit; capsules slightly wrinkled, warty, pebbled, or shallowly pitted; corolla 5–9.5 mm. | → 2 |
2. Corolla 6–9.5 mm, spur ca. 2.5 mm. | F. officinalis |
2. Corolla 5–6 mm, spur 1–1.5 mm. | F. vaillantii |
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