THE ROSE FAMILY. 203 



18. Common CiNQtrEFOii, — {Potentilla reptans.) 

 Hedgebanks and waysides, chiefly on the south-side of the town. 



Common about Chorlton, Gorton, and Reddish. Fl. June — August. 

 Curtis, i. 37 ; E. B. xii. 863 (but rarely so much creeping as there represented). 



19. Large Tormentil — {Torment'dla reptans.) 

 Hedgebanks and in woods, common. Fl. June, July. 



E. B. xii. 804 (but rarely so upright or decidedly panicled). 



20. Common Tormentil — {Tormentilla officinalis.) 

 Moors, heaths, on banks, and in dry woods, common everywhere. 

 Fl. June, July. 



Curtis, ii. 327 ; E. B. xii. 863 ; Baxter, v. 341. 

 A pretty, unpretending little plant, known immediately by its cross-shaped 

 golden flowers, borne singly, instead of in clusters, Uke all other yellow cross- 

 shaped flowers, and by the long thread-Kke stems, with temate or qiiinate leaves, 

 and generally entangled among other little herbs. 



21. Agrimony — {Agrimonia Eupatoria.) 

 Pastures and dry waste places, rather rare. By Riddings Brook, 

 Lymm ; plentiful near Rostherne Mere ; about Mobberley (Mr. Hol- 

 land) ; in Coutacre Clough, Middle Hulton (G. H.) ; and in Crookley 

 Wood, near Stockport. (Mr. Isaac Williamson.) Hope, near Eccles 

 (J. S.) ; Rainsall, and Broughton. (J. P.) Bramhall ; Bredbury ; 

 between Hagden and Bollington, plentiful. (Mr. John Moss.) 

 Curtis, ii. 324; E. B. xix. 1335 ; Baxter, ii. 88. 

 An elegant and interesting plant, with flowers that smell like apricots. 



The grand contribution of the Rosacese to garden ornament hardly needs to be 

 named. The rose, in its odour and loveliness, has in every age been the acknow- 

 ledged queen of flowers, the metaphor of perfection, another name only for 

 whatever in nature is most delightful of its Idnd. A good many species are in 

 cultivation, but the thousands of " sorts " with fancy names, are but varieties 

 obtained by the skill of the cultivator. The best-marked are the old-fashioned 

 double-red, or " cabbage-i'ose," — the Rosa centifolia, of which the moss-rose is a 

 variety ; the monthly-rose, trained against walls ; and the little Banksian rose, 

 with clusters of yellow'ish flowers like carnations. Sweet-briar is the Rosa rubi- 

 ginosa. (Curtis iii. 497.) After this beautiful genus come various species of 

 Spiraa, some shrubby, with close panicles of small pink blossoms ; others herba- 

 ceous, with flowers resembling those of the meadow-sweet, or S. Ulmaria. Such 

 are the Spircea Aruncus, tri/oliata, and Filipendula, (Curtis iii. 493.) a -very 

 elegant native. The flowers of the last-named are often double. Spircea opuli- 

 folia attains the stature of a small tree. PotentiUas, with flowers like those of 



