434 ICOSANDRIA— POLYGYNIA. Comarum. 



attached to its rim, lanceolate, acute. Filam. numerous, 

 from the rim of the calyx, awl-shaped, erect, nearly as 

 long as the corolla. Anth. roundish, incumbent, deci- 

 duous. Germens numerous, small, ovate, smooth, col- 

 lected into a head. Styles straight, simple, short, lateral. 

 Stigmas simple. Seeds numerous, naked, ovate, even, 

 scattered over the surface of a large, dry, spongy, hairy, 

 hemispherical, permanent receptacle. 

 Herbaceous, creeping, with }:)innate and ternate leaves, and 

 several panicled^ott'^r^. The genus is allied in character 

 to Fragaria, but totally different in habit. The very 

 unequal calyx, and small lanceolate j^e/^/^, with the spongy 

 Tpevras^newtreccptacle, are good technical charactcrSjStrong- 

 ly confirmed by a most distinct habit. It is difficult to 

 conceive upon what principle Fragaria sterilis of Linnaeus 

 could be referred to Comarum ; certainly by no natural 

 or artificial character. 



1. Q. pahistre. Purple Marsh-cinquefoil. 



C. palustre. Linn. Sp. PL 718. TViUd. r, 2. 1 11 9. Fl. Br. 556. 

 Engl. Bot. V. 3. 1. 1 72. Dicks. H. Sicc.fasc. 2. 1 G. Hook. Scot. 

 165. FLDan.t.636. 



Potentilla Comarum. Nestl. Potent. 36. 



Pentaphylloides palustre rubrum. Rail Syn. 256. 



Pentaphyllum rubrum palustre. Ger. Em. 987. f- Lob. Ic. 691./. 



P. palustre. Cord. Hist. 96./. 



Quinquefolium palustre. Camer. Epit. 762./. 



Q. palustre rubrum. Bauh. Pin. 326. 



Q. quartum. Dod. Pempt. 117./ 



Fragaria n. 1 128. Hall. Hist. t). 2. 51. 



/3 Pentaphyllum palustre rubrnm,crassis et villosisfoliis,Suecicumet 

 Hibernicum. Pluk.Almag.2S4. Phyi. t.2l2.f.2. RaiiSyn.2o6. 



In spongy muddy bogs and ditches. 



Perennial. .June, July. 



Root creeping extensively, with many long fibres. Stems ascend- 

 ing, round, reddish, leafy, downy and panicled in the upper 

 part, a foot or more in height. Lower leaves stalked, of 5, rarely 

 7, elliptic-oblong, acute, sharply and simply serrated leaflets: 

 downy and whitish, or glaucous, beneath j upper ternate, nearly 

 sessile. Stipulas oblong, acute, cut, attached in pairs to each 

 footstalk. Fl. several, on panicled downy stalks, without scent, 

 but handsome, an inch broad, all over of a dark purplish blood- 

 colour, as vvell as the fruit. 



|S has thicker more hairy leaves than ordinary, but is a trifling variety. 



