CLASS XII. ORDER III.] POTENTILLA. 739 



This is a very pretty hardy shrub, commonly cultivated in gardens, 

 and flowers freely for several months in the summer. Its leaves are 

 said to be prepared and used as tea in some parts of Russia. 



2. P. rupes'tris, Linn. (Fig. 837.) Strawherry-jlowered Cinque-foil. 

 Stem herbaceous, erect, dichotomous above ; lower leaves pinnate, the 

 upper ternate ; leaflets ovate, sub-rotundate, unequally cut and ser- 

 rated, hairy ; stipules entire. 



English Botany, t. 2058.— English -^Flora, vol. ii. p. 418.— Hooker, 

 British Flora, ed. 4. vol. i. p. 206. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 96. 



Root somewhat woody, almost black, stout, long, tapering, with nu- 

 merous fibrous branches. Stem about a foot high, erect, round, hairy, 

 naked below, branched in a dichotomous manner above, and leafy. 

 Leaves pinnate, with ovate roundish or ovate wedge-shaped leaflets, 

 hairy and paler beneath, the margins more or less unequally cut and 

 irregularly serrated, the radical leaves numerous, with a long common 

 footstalk, downy and channeled above, with a pair of roundish ovate 

 entire stipules^ those of the upper nearly sessile, ternate, leaflets some- 

 times with one or two serratures. Flowers white, not very numerous, 

 in terminal dichotomous panicles. Pedicles round, clothed with short 

 close hairs, as well as the calyx, whose outer segments are small, linear, 

 and the inner nearly as long again, ovate lanceolate, spreading both in 

 flower and fruit. Petals rather large, roundish, heart-shaped, with a 

 short claw. Stamens with awl-shaped filaments and ovate anthers, 

 with a dark disk. Fruit a dry small receptacle, with numerous small 

 kidney-shaped carpels 



Habitat. — Very rare ; on Craig Breidhin, Montgomeryshire. 



Perennial ; flowering in June. 



The flowers of this species bear a great resemblance to those of the 

 Strawberiy plants. It is sometimes cultivated as a border flower, but 

 is not so showy a plant as many other species. 



3. P, anseri'na, Linn. (Fig. 838.) Silver Weed, Stem creeping; 

 leaves interruptedly pinnate; leaflets in numerous pairs, oblong, 

 acutely serrated, silky; peduncles axillary, single flowered. 



English Botany t. 861.— English Flora, vol. ii. p. 417.— Hooker, 

 British Flora, ed. 4. vol. i. p. 206. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 96. 



/3. sericea, Koch. Leaves white and silky on both sides. — Koch. 

 Flora Germanicae et Helveticce, p. 213. 



y. concolor, Ser. De Cand. Prod. 3. p. 582. 



^. viridisy Koch. Leaves green on both sides, slightly hairy, or 

 smooth above. 



Koch. Flora Germanicae et Helveticae, p. 213. 



Root tapering, somewhat fleshy. Stems several, long, round, 

 slender, smooth, or clothed with silky hairs, jointed, and putting out 

 leaves and flowers, and taking root at various intervals. Leaves 

 mostly numerous, spreading, from three to six inches long, with a stout 



