8. Potentilla diversifolia Lehm. 



Perennial with a branching caudex and short thick rootstocks, from sparsely 

 hirsute-strigose and greenish to rather grayish-sericeous (at least on the lower sur- 

 face of the leaflets); stems usually several, spreading to erect, 1.5-4.5 dm. tall; 

 leaves mainly basal, the blades with 5 or 7 main leaflets, mostly digitate but some- 

 times semipinnate or truly pinnate, often with 1 or 2 (to 4) much-reduced some- 

 times entire leaflets more or less distant from the main ones; leaflets oblong or 

 oblanceolate to broadly obovate, mostly 1-3 cm. long, from shallowly triangular- 

 toothed to dissected almost to the midvein into narrowly oblong to linear segments; 

 cauline leaves mostly 1 or 2 below the inflorescence; stipules ovate-lanceolate, 1-2 

 cm. long, usually entire; cymes open, many-flowered; calyx saucer-shaped, villous- 

 sericeous, to 1.5 cm. broad in fruit, the triangular-lanceolate lobes 4-6 mm. long; 

 petals yellow, obcordate, 6-9 mm. long; stamens usually 20; pistils numerous; style 

 slender, equaling or exceeding the fruit and subapically attached to it; achenes 

 1.3-1.6 mm. long, ultimately weakly reticulate. 



In wet meadows and along stream banks in high mts., in N. M. (Colfax, Rio 

 Arriba and Santa Fe cos.) and Ariz. (Apache, Coconino and Pima cos.), July- 

 Aug.; w. Can., s. to N. M., Ariz, and Baja Calif. 



9. Potentilla gracilis Dougl. ex Hook. 



Perennial with a heavy branched erect or ascending caudex, exceedingly 

 variable as to pubescence; stems usually several, ascending to more commonly 

 erect, 3-8 dm. tall, sparsely to thickly spreading-hirsute to puberulent, somewhat 

 lanate or perhaps mostly commonly chiefly strigose or strigillose; basal leaves 

 numerous, variable, the petioles to 3 dm. long, the blades commonly digitate 

 but sometimes semipinnate; leaflets 5 to 11, usually 7, cuneate-oblanceolate to 

 broadly oblanceolate or oblong-efliptic, (2-) 3-8 (-12) cm. long, plane to oc- 

 casionally folded, nearly glabrous or almost equally strigose to puberulent or 

 hirsute, more or less glandular, generally concolorous to much more heavily 

 strigose or tomentose and much lighter on the lower surface, from evenly 

 crenate-dentate with 5 or 6 teeth per cm. to very deeply dissected almost to the 

 midvein into segments that vary from lanceolate and as much as 1 cm. broad 

 at base to narrowly linear and less than 2 mm. broad at base, the margins plane 

 to slightly revolute; stipules lanceolate, to 2.5 cm. long, entire to toothed or 

 lacerate; cauline leaves 1 to 3; cymes mostly large and many-flowered, open, 

 conspicuously bracteate, usually more or less flat-topped; calyx cupuliform, 6-10 

 mm. broad, in fruit accrescent and to 12 mm. broad and nearly as high, from 

 sparsely pubescent and glandular or more commonly eglandular to hirsute, serice- 

 ous or strigose, the bracteoles narrowly lanceolate, slightly to considerably 

 shorter than the lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate and usually acuminate 4-10 mm. 

 long lobes; petals yellow, obovate-obcordate, slightly to considerably longer than 

 the sepals; stamens usually 20; pistils numerous; style subapically attached, 

 slender but very slightly enlarged and somewhat glandular-verrucose near the 

 base, 1.5-2 mm. long, usually about equaling the mature nearly or quite usually 

 greenish achene. Incl. var. pulcherrima (Lehm.) Fern.; P. pulcherrima Lehm. 



In marshes and in mud about ponds and lakes, wet alpine meadows, in N. M. 

 (Lincoln, Rio Arriba, Taos and Union cos.) and Ariz. (Apache, Navajo and 

 Coconino cos.), June-Sept.; Alas. e. to Sask. and Neb., s. to N. M., Ariz, 

 and Baja Calif. 



We have two variants. 



Var. brunnescens (Rydb.) C. L. Hitchc. (P. filipes Rydb.) with calyx sparsely 

 hirsute but finely glandular-pubescent and leaves greenish and finely glandular- 

 pubescent as well as hirsute on both surfaces. 



1028 



