ROSE FAMILY 179 



Var. sericea Hajaie. Leaves silky and usually silvery on both surfaces. — Mountain meadows 

 and saline flats of the arid interior : San Bernardino Mts. ; east side of the Sierra Nevada from 

 Mono Co. to Siskiyou Co. North to British America, east to the Atlantic. Europe, Asia. 



Locs. — Bear Valley, San Bernardino Mts., Parish; Summit Lake, Mono Co., Maule ; Butte 

 Valley, Siskiyou Co., Butler 1874. 



Var. grandis T. & G. Stolons, peduncles and petioles glabrous to glabrate ; leaflets glabrous 

 above or nearly so; achenes smooth (non-corky) or somewhat corky, "ungrooved dorsally" or 

 often with a shallow groove. — Mostly near the coast, 5 to 100 feet: Ventura Co. to Del Norte Co. 

 North to Alaska. Apr.-Sept. 



Tax. note. — The Pacific Coast plants, for long referred to Potentilla anserina, have been 

 segregated by Howell (Fl. Nw. Am. 179) under the name P. pacifica Howell, a segregation main- 

 tained by Eydberg (N. Am. Fl. 22 :353) and by Fernald (Ehod. 11 :8) on the basis of the glabrous 

 upper leaf surfaces and the ungrooved achenes. As to pubescence, the leaves above are generally 

 though not always absolutely glabrous. As to achenes, most specimens lack fruits, but in all 

 California material observed the achenes are shallowly channeled dorsally. Immature achenes do 

 not or may not show this extremely slight channel; the outer tissues are soft and the channel is 

 commonly dissembled or lost in dried specimens. Further, individuals segregated as P. pacifica 

 frequently resemble in the sum total of their characters specimens of P. anserina much more than 

 other individuals authentically named P. pacifica. The feature of prostrate leaves in P. anserina 

 and erect leaves in the form P. pacifica (var. grandis T. & G.) is proposed as another differen- 

 tiating character but field observation shows that in the variety the leaves assume the prostrate 

 habit when growing in drier or more exposed situations. The form of salt marshes named 

 Argentina occidentalis by Rydberg is described as having a spreading habit with the leaves, 

 peduncles and stolons below the limits of variation in the var. grandis, and with broader shorter 

 bractlets. We find that plants in exposed situations are of spreading habit, with the leaves, 

 peduncles and stolons averaging shorter than in the variety grandis, while plants in wet situations 

 or among tall grasses tend to have the leaves erect and the structures mentioned correspondingly 

 longer. These differences in size and habit are not associated with differences in the shape or 

 relative lengths of bractlets and sepals. The bractlets vary from broadly oval or narrowly oblong 

 to lanceolate, and are either about equal to the sepals, or slightly longer or shorter. 



Locs. — Oxnard, Ventura Co., Davy 7807; Morro, San Luis Obispo Co., Mum 9246; Carmel, 

 Neivlon 112; Moss Beach, San Mateo Co., Alice King (achenes corky) ; Lake Merced, San Fran- 

 cisco, Jepson 10,259; Pt. Reyes, Davy 6733; Jenner, Sonoma Co., Crum 1228 (leaves 30 inches 

 long) ; Ft. Bragg, W. C. Mathews; Samoa, Humboldt Co., Tracy 2590. 



Refs. — Potentilla anserina L. Sp. PI. 495 (1753), type from Europe; Jepson, Fl. "W. Mid. 

 Cal. 281 (1901), ed. 2, 208 (1911), Man. 485 (1925) in part. Argentina anserina Rydb. Mem. 

 Dept. Bot. Columbia Univ. 2:159, pi. 98 (1898). Var. sericea Hayne, Arzneigew 4:31 (1816). 

 P. anserina var. concolor Ser. ; DC. Prod. 2:582 (1825). Argentina anserina var. concolor Rydb. 

 Mem. Dept. Bot. Columbia Univ. 2:160 (1898), mainly. A. argentea Rydb. Bull. Torr. Club 

 33:143 (1906). P. anserina var. argentea Jepson, Man. 485 (1925). Var. grandis T. & G. Fl. 

 1:444 (1840), type from Ore., Scouler. Argentina anserina var. grandis Eydb. Mem. Dept. Bot. 

 Columbia Univ 2:161 (1898). P. pacifica Howell, Fl. Nw, Am. 179 (1898), "salt marshes along 

 the coast, Alaska to California." Argentina pacifica Rydb. N. Am. Fl. 22:353 (1908). P. anser- 

 ina Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. Cal. 281 (1901), ed. 2, 208 (1911), Man. 485, fig. 479 (1925), in part. 

 Argentina occidentalis Rydb. N. Am. Fl. 22:354 (1908), type loc. Suisun, C. F. BaTcer 3217. P. 

 occidentalis Fedde, Just Bot. Jahresb. 36-: 488 (1908). 



IV. Subgenus Sibbaldia. Leaves trifoliolate; stamens 5; style lateral; achenes 

 10 to 15, glabrous. 



4. P. sibbaldii Hal. f . Alpine Sibbaldia. Low matted plant, the stems from a 

 branched rootstock, 2 to 6 inches high; herbage sparsely silky-strignlose ; leaves 

 ternate, on petioles ^A to 2 inches long; leaflets broadly cuneate, 3 to 5-toothed at 

 apex, sparsely soft-hairy, i/4 to % inch long ; cymes commonly few-flowered, com- 

 pact at first, becoming open in fruit; flowers 2 to 2^2 lines wide; petals yellow, 

 ovate or elliptic, shorter than the sepals; stamens 5 (or 6) ; achenes 5 to 20. 



Alpine slopes or meadows, 8000 to 12,000 feet : San Bernardino Mts. ; White 

 Mts.; Sierra Nevada from Tulare Co. to Siskiyou Co. North to Alaska, east to 

 New England. Europe, Asia. May-Sept. 



Locs. — San Bernardino Mts.: Foxesee Creek, Santa Ana River, Peirson 2262. White Mts.: 

 McAfee Mdws., Duran 2808. Sierra Nevada: Farewell Gap, Purpus 5194; Kaweah Peak, Jepson 

 5001 ; Kearsarge Pass, Jepson 864 ; Evolution basin, Fresno Co., E. Ferguson 478 ; Mt. Lyell, 

 Jepson 3325; Castle Peak (Mt. Stanford), Nevada Co., Sonne; Mt. Shasta, Jepson 14,169; Horn- 

 brook, Siskiyou Co., Howell 1383. 



