42 The Romance of Wild Flowers 
stems make a vain effort towards an erect attitude. Its 
leaves are pinnate, and consist of five or seven leaflets ; 
and its small petals are purplish-brown in colour. 
This is a striking departure from the usual yellow of 
the Potentillas, more striking by far than the variation 
to white of the Barren Strawberry, but it is coupled 
with another noteworthy difference from its congeners. 
The receptacle instead of being flat is conical, and 
after fertilisation this grows enormously until it is as 
large as a Strawberry, and of a crimson colour, but 
dry and spongy, without flavour. On this the shiny 
achenes are borne much after 
the manner of the Strawberry. 
I used to grow this as a pot- 
, plant in the greenhouse on 
account of the ornamental fruit. 
The Wild Strawberry (Fra- 
garia vesca), we have seen, 
closely resembles the Barren Strawberry 
Potentilla, except in the fact that it 
produces runners which root and estab- 
lish new plants at intervals. The 
receptacle also is conical in agreement with the Marsh 
Cinquefoil, yet with the difference that it develops 
into a juicy, sweet and fragrant mass in which the 
achenes are slightly embedded. The flower also ex- 
hibits an advance upon those of Potentillas in that 
it has taken to maturing its stigmas before the pollen 
is discharged, and so favours cross-fertilisation. 
Now let us consider for a moment the probability 
of the Strawberry originating from a Potentilla—as 
a matter of fact it is a Potentilla, though systematic 
botanists persist in placing it in a separate genus. 
Strawberry 
