NEW TO THE BRITISH FLORA. 529 
not satisfied that the characters here given, may be found to hold 
good in all cases. 
I cannot but expect that by some plant-gatherers, these plants 
will be considered mere “ splits ;” but, commending them to the 
examination of field-botanists, I will be content to say with Nees 
ab Esenbeck : “ malo enim peccare in discriminandis quam in con- 
fundendis rerum nature cognitionibus.” 
To Mr. Borrer I owe the ability to determine with exantnens 
most of the plants here described; for without the very valuable 
assistance of his Herbarium and Library, I could not have been 
positive that my plants were precisely those of foreign authors. 
l. Potentilla mata [Nolte apud Reichenbach fl. Germ. exsicc. 
no. 1743]; caulibus flagelliformibus prostratis superne ramosis, 
foliis quinatis intermixtis ternatis, foliolis oblongo-obovatis ab 
apice ultra medium serratis, subtus adpresso-pilosis, serraturis 
ovatis, obtusiusculis, floribus solitariis plerisque tetrameris, car- 
pellis. oso Koch, Synops. Fl. Germ. Ed. 2. v. 1. p. 239. 
Reichenbach, fl. Germ. no. 1143 (specimen Noltianum.) 
Has. On waste ground near Valebridge, in Keymer, Sussex, 
in small quantity. 
Root woody, producing several stems which take their rise be- 
low the tuft of leaves. Stems procumbent at the base, ascending, 
branched, seldom emitting rootlets from the nodes. Leaves 
mostly ternate, a few of the lower ones quinate, nearly glabrous 
above, beneath clothed on the veins with long appressed hairs ; 
leaflets oblong-obovate, serrate, teeth ovate, about two or three on 
each side, terminal tooth longer than the lateral (in the stem 
leaves). Stipules lanceolate, entire, or with one or two teeth at 
the sides. Pedicels about three times longer than the leaves. 
Calyx with four, or less frequently, five divisions. Petals four or 
five, as long again as the calyx, bright yellow. Carpels rugose. 
This plant is undeniably very close to Potentilla reptans, Linn. 
of which it may be but a variety. It is however readily distin- 
guished at first sight by its habit, which is that of P. Tormentil/a, 
Sibth. ; indeed it has so much the look of that species, that it 
might be passed over as state of it, or of P. procumbens, Sibth. 
