FFF140 - FUMITORY

Fumaria officinalis (common fumitory or earth smoke) is the most common species of the genus Fumaria in Western and Central Europe. It is a herbaceous annual plant, which grows weakly erect and scrambling, with stalks about 10 to 50 cm long. Its pink 7 to 9 mm flowers appear from April to October in the northern hemisphere. They are two lipped and spurred, with sepals running a quarter the length of the petals. The fruit is an achene. It contains alkaloids, potassium salts, and tannins. It is also a major source of fumaric acid.

The "smoky" or "fumy" origin of its name comes from the translucent color of its flowers, giving them the appearance of smoke or of hanging in smoke, and the slightly gray-blue haze color of its foliage, also resembling smoke coming from the ground, especially after morning dew.

The plant was already called fūmus terrae (smoke of the earth) in the early 13th century, and two thousand years ago, Dioscorides wrote in De Materia Medica (Περὶ ὕλης ἰατρικῆς) and Pliny the Elder in Naturalis Historia that rubbing the eyes with the sap or latex of the plant causes tears, like acrid smoke (fūmus) does to the eyes. Its Greek name is kapnos (καπνός, for smoke) and the name fumewort now applies mostly to the genus Corydalis, especially the similar looking Corydalis solida (formerly Fumaria bulbosa), which was thought to belong to the same genus as fumitory.

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FFF 140

1.	Florist Shop	10.	Gunilla	19.	Sara Chapman #2	28.	rheingruen
2.	Friars Cowl	11.	Andrew	20.	Debbie at Travel with Intent	29.	Pam - Crepe Myrtles
3.	Blue Iris	12.	Ulla Laiho	21.	Reach Beyond Limits	30.	Nasturtium Field in San Francisco
4.	White Winter Rose	13.	NatureFootstep Photo	22.	WoollyMuses	31.	The Rosegarden in Malevik
5.	Ranu	14.	Lantana	23.	Moni	32.	Aletta - Nowathome
6.	Mascha	15.	Shiju Sugunan	24.	girl friday	33.	Dazzling Whimsy
7.	Tom The Backroads Traveller	16.	Heidrun	25.	Savings in Flower Garden	34.	Agni, Greece
8.	Jesh stG	17.	Simone, Germany	26.	Mary, MI	35.	Summer Sizzler - 7. Hibiscus
9.	Synnöve	18.	Sara Chapman, Seattle USA	27.	Dawn

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