230 EOSACE^ 



bent. Plant perennial. This little plant is abundant on the Highland 

 mountains, even at their very summits. It bears small yellowish flowers in 

 June and July, and its leaves are slightly hairy, and pale green. It is very 

 nearly allied to the Pofentillas, but its general aspect is somewhat like that of 

 the Lady's Mantle. The petals are often absent, and the number of pistils 

 and stamens is very variable. Some authors class both this and the next 

 species in the genus Potentilla. 



7. Marsh Cinquefoil (Cvmarum). 



Purple Mar^h Cinquefoil (C. pahlstre). — Stems ascending: leaves 

 pinnate ; leaflets from 5 to 7, lanceolate, deeply serrated ; flower-stalks 

 branched. Plant perennial. This plant is so nearly allied to the Cinque- 

 foils, that it is by some writers called Potentilla comarum, but it differs from 

 that genus by having an enlarged spongy receptacle. It is not unfrequent 

 on bogs and marshes, bearing large flowers in July, of a dingy purplish 

 colour. It is in some parts of England called Cowberry. It is the Comaret 

 of the French, and the Filnfhlatt of the Germans ; while the Dutch call it 

 Piood waterherie. Its name of Cowberry probably originated from a practice, 

 common among the Irish, of rubbing the inside of milking-pails Avith this 

 plant, in order that the milk may seem richer and thicker. Its roots are of 

 sufficient astringency to be used in tanning, and they will dye wool of a 

 yellow colour. 



8. Strawberry (Fragdria). 



1. Wood Strawberry {F. vdsca). — Calyx of the fruit spreading, or bent 

 backwards ; hairs on the general flower-stalk widely spreading, on the partial 

 flower-stalks erect, or close pressed ; petals slightly notched. Plant perennial. 

 The pretty Avhite flowers of the Strawberry plant stand up among the bright 

 green hairy leaves from May to July. They are common in most woods and 

 hedges, and the ripened fruit of June supplies a store for the country 

 children, and is very wholesome and pleasant. It is, like many other berries, 

 still more abundant in the woods of Northern Europe than in ours. In 

 Sweden it is so plentiful that the tables are constantly supplied during the 

 season Avith wood strawberries, and large baskets full are daily carried about 

 the towns for sale. Linnaeus, who considered it the most wholesome of all 

 fruits, and who believed that eating strawberries had cured him of a fit of 

 the gout, used to desire his servant to purchase all that were brought to the 

 door, and daily ate large numbers of them. Hoffman has also recorded the 

 cure of some dangerous disorders by eating strawberries ; and Boerhaave 

 accounted this fruit as one of the principal remedies in putrid fevers. There 

 is no doubt that it is an excellent dietetic fruit for persons liable to inflam- 

 matory or bilious disorders. From the pleasant odour of the strawberry we 

 not only derive our botanic name, made from the word fragrans, but the 

 French have also their word fraise ; and one of the common comparisons in 

 use in France is not merely as with us, " fresh as a rose," but also "fraiche 

 comme une fraise." The Germans call the plant Erdbeere, and the Italians 

 Tragolo. The English name of Strawberry is said by some writers to have 

 been derived from an old practice, which has again in late years much prevailed 



