54 POTENTILLE^, OR [part 



TRIBE II.— POTENTILLE^ OR DRYADEiE. 



The plants belonging to this tribe agree more 

 or less in the construction of their flowers with 

 the well-known showy plants called Potentilla, 

 but my readers will probably be surprised to 

 hear that the raspberry and the strawberry are 

 included among them. If, however, they com- 

 pare the flower of the Potentilla with that of 

 the strawberry, they will find them very much 

 alike. In both there is a calyx of ten sepals, 

 and a cup-shaped corolla of five petals ; and in 

 both the stamens form a ring round an ele- 

 vated receptacle, on which are placed numerous 

 carpels. Here, however, the resemblance ceases, 

 for as the seeds of Potentilla ripen, the recep- 

 tacle withers up in proportion to the swelling of 

 the carpels, till it becomes hidden by them; 

 while in the strawberry the receptacle becomes 

 gradually more and more dilated, swelling out 

 and separating the bony carpels still farther and 

 farther from each other, till at last it forms 

 what we call the ripe fruit. I have already 

 had several times occasion to mention the 

 receptacle, which though seldom seen, or at 

 least noticed, by persons who are not botanists, 

 is a most important part of the flower, and one 

 that assumes a greater variety of form than any 



