XI.IX. UoSACE.K. 461 



3. POTENTILLA, Linn. 



Herbs usually peri'iuiial. Jii'uvcs coinpouiHl ; sli[)ules adnato to iho 

 petiole. Flowers yellow or \\hite (rarely red), solitary or in coiyinbose 

 cymes. Calyx j)ersistent, usually 5 braeteolate ; lobes as many as the 

 bracteoles, erect or spreiulini;, valvate in bud. Petals as many as the 

 calyx-lobes, obovate, orbicular, or linear-spathulate. Stamens usually 

 numerous. Disk annular or lining the calyx-tube. Carpels many 

 (rarely 1 or few), on a small dry receptacle ; ovule solitary, ijeudulous ; 

 styles ])ersistent or deciduous, ventral or terminal. Achenes many, on 

 a dry recei)tacle. — Distrib, Chiefly in the colder regions of the 

 uortbern, rare in the sou! hern hemisphere ; species about 120. 



1. Potentilla supina, Linn. yS)). P/. (1753) p. 497. An annual 

 prostrate herb ; stems very many from the root, 4-12 in. long, slender, 

 spreading, leafy, dichotomously branched, hairy. Leaves pinnate, 1-2 

 in. long ; rhachis densely hairy; petioles slender, hairy; stipules ovate, 

 acute, entire, hairy. Leaflets 3-*J, opposite and alternate, variable ia 

 size and form, usually obovate, sometimes oblong or cuneate, variously 

 cut, hairy on both surfaces ; petiolules very short or 0. Flowers 

 axillary, solitary, j in. in diam. ; pedicels -l— ^ in. long, slender, hairy. 

 Calyx hairy outside, i in. long ; lobes 5, ovate-oblong, subacute ; 

 bracteoles 5, oblong-elliptic, obtuse, about g as broad as the calyx-lobes. 

 Petals yellow, oblong, smaller than the calyx. Achenes numerous, 

 small, smooth ; i-eceptacle globose. Fl. B. I. v. 2, p. 359 ; Boiss. Fl. 

 Orient, v. 2, p. 725 ; Aitch. Pb. & Sind PI. p. 57 ; Woodr. in Journ. 

 Bomb. Nat. v. 11 (1898) p. G35 ; Watt, Diet. Econ. Prod. v. 6, part 1, 

 p. 333. — Flowers : Oct. 



Gujarat : Ivarnali, Kanitkar !, Woodrow. Si.nd : Stocks, 403 I ; hanks of the Indus, 

 Sfocl:s ! 



It is VAR. 1 (Hook. f. Fl. B. I. 1. c.) with smooth (not ribbed) achenes that is found 

 in Gujarat and Sind. — Distrib. Throughout the warmer parts of the plains of India; 

 Afghanistan and westward to the Atlantic, N. Asia, N. Africa. 



4. NEURADA, Linn. 



An annual woolly depressed branched herb. Leaves alternate, 

 petiolate, ovate, lobed ; stipules minute or obsolete. Flowers axillary, 

 solitary, pedicelied. Calyx-tube flat, dilated, at length conic, spiny and 

 forming with the ripe carpels an orbicular disk ; lobes 5, triangular ; 

 bracteoles 5, subulate. Petals 5, small. Stamens 10, inserted in the 

 contracted mouth of the calyx ; filaments subulate. Carpels 10, whorled, 

 united with one another and with the calyx ; ovule solitary from the 

 apex of the carpel ; styles subulate, persistent. Fruit a depressed cone 

 with spinous margins ; carpels 1 0, horizontal, dehiscing above, terminated 

 by the spinescent styles. Seeds curved, germinating within the carpels, 

 exalbuminous. — Disteiu. N. Africa, Arabia, Persia, Afghanistan, Sind, 

 and the Pan jab ; species 1. 



1. Neurada procumbens, Linn. Sp. 77. (1753) p. 441. A 

 branched procumbent herb; branches 5-10 in. long, densely woolly. 

 Leaves 2-| in. long, ovate-oblong, variously lobed, densely tomentose 

 on both SLu-faces ; petioles g-^ iu. long, densely \\ oolly. Flowers \ in. 



