WEEDS OF MAINE. 251 



30. PoTENTiLLA — Potentilla Norvegica. Annual. Stem one to three feet high, rather 

 coarse and stout. Leaves in three divisions. Flowers numerous, yellow, petals soon 

 falling o£f. 



A coarse native plant, very common in pastures, waste places 

 about dwellings, and in well cultivated grass lands. Not trouble^ 

 some. 



31. FiVE-FiNGER CiNQUEFOiL — Potentilla Canadensis. Root perennial. Stem six to 

 twenty inches long, slender, producing runners. Leaves in five divisions, like a hand; 

 divisions one to three inches long. Flowers yellow. 



A worthless native plant, common in dry, gravelly fields and 

 pastures. Its prevalence in grass lands is indicative of poor soil 

 and neglected agriculture. " Some land when kept as pasture 

 fields seem to have an almost incurable tendency to lose the 

 valuable grasses, and to become speedily overrun with Cinquefoil. 

 Lime and manure, however, will work wonders in the worst of 

 soils . ' ' — ( Darlington. ) 



32. Silvery Cinqdefoil — Potentilla argentea. Perennial. Stem procumbent or as- 

 cending, with white-woolly, slender branches. Leaves in five divisions, which are about 

 half an inch long, green above, white with silvery wool beneath. Flowers small, yel- 

 low; petals soon falling off. 



This native herb is common in dry, sterile fields and pastures. 

 A worthless and harmless weed, of much the same character as 

 the preceding. 



Order 13. ONAGRADS — Onagrace^. None of the species 

 are of any agricultural importance. The Fuchsia and Clarkia are 

 cultivated for ornament. 



33. Fire-Weed. Willow-Herb — Epilobium awjusti folium. Perennial. Stem four to 

 BIX feet high. Leaves two to five inches long, with purple veins. Flowers numerous, 

 pink-purple, very showy. 



A native species found on low waste grounds, and especially on 

 newly cleared land where it has been burnt over. I do not know 

 that it is at all troublesome. 



34. Common Evening Primrose — Qinuthera biennis. Annual or perennial. Stem 

 erect, two to five feet high, stout. Leaves three to six inches long. Flowers numerous, 

 quite large and showy; yellow. 



A coarse native herb of variable appearance, producing several 

 well marked varieties, as the Oenothera b. var. grandiflora, which 

 is sometimes tolerated in and about flower gardens. The evening 

 primrose is a conspicuous and rather common weed in fields and 

 by the roadside. Small evening primrose {(E. pumila,) is a small 

 half-erect species with a slender stem six to ten inches long, and 

 small flowers. It is abundant in pastures and grass lands. 



