Citation: L., Sp. Pl. 700 (1753).

Synonymy: Not Applicable

Common name: Fumitories. .

Description:
Softly herbaceous annuals, often climbing by the branches of the compound leaves being coiled around objects, glabrous; leaves with petioles becoming shorter from the basal to the cauline ones, with clasping leaf-bases.

Inflorescences terminal racemes or often along branches in a leaf-opposed position, with flowers pedicellate; sepals 2, caducous; petals 4, with the dorsal one extended into a spur about one-third of the length of the petals; stigma usually 2-lobed.

Fruit a 1-seeded nut, spherical or almost so, with 2 more or less clearly developed pits on either side of the remains of the style.

Distribution:  About 55 species, mainly from Europe but with extensions of the distribution to the Himalayas and highlands of east Africa.

Biology: No text

Uses: Nowadays many species are widespread weeds of cultivation which grow and flower throughout the year if irrigated.

Key to Species:

1. Flowers 9-12 mm long; lower petal oblong, not spathulate (sect.Grandiflora)
2. Fruiting pedicels recurved; bracts as long as or longer than the flowering pedicels	F. capreolata 2.
2. Fruiting pedicels erect; bracts usually shorter than two-thirds of the length of the flowering pedicels
3. Fruit irregularly granulate; inflorescence dense, usually with 15-25 flowers	F. bastardii 1.
3. Fruit smooth or almost so; inflorescence loose, usually with 7-15 flowers	F. muralis 5.
1. Flowers 5-8, rarely 9 mm long; lower petals spathulate (sect. Fumaria, except F. muralis)
4. Sepals 1-1.5 mm long
5. Mature fruits with a flattened or indented apex	F. officinalis 6.
5. Mature fruits with a rounded to acute apex
6. Bracts shorter than the pedicels	F. vaillantii 8.
6. Bracts as long as or longer than the pedicels
7. Flowers pink to reddish-pink with a dark apex; apical wings of the dorsal petal narrow, spreading	F. indica 4.
7. Flowers white with a dark apex; apical wings of the dorsal petal broad and turned upwards	F. parviflora 7.
4. Sepals 2-4 mm long
8. Bracts longer than the flowering pedicels	F. densiflora 3.
8. Bracts shorter than the flowering pedicels
9. Mature fruits with a rounded to acute apex, smooth or almost so	F. muralis 5.
9. Mature fruit usually with a flattened or indented apex, irregularly granulate	F. officinalis 6.

Author: Not yet available