MEMOIRS FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF BOTANY OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 51 
24. Potentilla argentea L. 
Potentilla argentea L. Sp. Pl. 497. 1753. 
L. Sp. Pl Ed: 2: 712; Mull. Gard. Dict. Ed..8: no. 5; Ait. Hort. Kew. 2: 215; 
Ed. 2, 3: 276; Dietr. Pflanz. Ed. 2: 91; Willd. Sp. Pl. 2: 1101; Poir. in Lam. Ene. 
Meth. 5: 590; Persoon, Syn. Pl. 2: 54;-Nestl. Mon. Pot. 26 and 48; Haller, Syn. Pot. 
50; Lehm. Mon. 24 and 94; Sprengel, Syst. Veg. 2: 537; Seringe in DC. Prod. 2: 
9/6; Don, Gard. Diet. 2: 553; Dietr. Syn. Pl. 3: 181; Walp. Rep. 2: 33; Ann. 2: 
490: Ledeb. Fl. Ross. 2: 47; Lehm. Rev. Pot. 96. 
Pursh, Fl. Am. Sept. 355; Bigelow, Fl. Bost. 124; Ed. 2: 204; Nutt. Gen. N. A. 
Rit sO BatWan Hd. 2) 879s Hd. 37 408. Hd: b2344- Hd. 6: 280. Wd; 451: 
Tor, Ei U.S: 497; Comp. 210); Beck, Bot: 107; BEd. 2: 99; Torr. & Gray, Fl. N. Am. 
1: 441; Hat. & Wr. N. Am. Bot. 373; Gray, Man. 122; Ed.2: 118; Hd. 5: 154; 
Noll, Fl. Pa. 433; Wood, Class Book, 343; Am. Bot. & Fl. 107; Wats. Proc. Am. Acad. 
8: 558; Wats. & Coult. in Gray, Man. Ed. 6: 160; Bailey in Gray, F. F. & G. Bot. Rev. 
Ed. 152; Rydb. Bull. Torr. Bot. Club, 24: 9; Britton & Brown, Ill. Fl. 2: 209. 
Lehm. in Hook. Fl. Bor. Am. 1: 191; Provancher, Fl. Can. 189; Macoun, Cat. 
Can. Pl. 139 and 517. 
Potentilla argentea dentata Beck, Bot. 107. 1833. 
Inuustrations: Dietr. Boruss. 4: pl. 273 ;* Sturm, Deutschl. Fl. 17: pl. 5 ;* Engl. 
Bot. pl. 89; Britt. and Brown, Ill. Fl. f 1914. Puare 13, f. 1; dissection of flower, f. 
2; pistil, f. 3; stamen, f. 4; fruiting hypanthium and calyx, f. 5. 
Stems many from the rootstock, rather bushy, branched and leafy, 1-5 dm. high, 
ascending, grayish-tomentose, or glabrate in age, often tinged with brown or purple. — Stip- 
ules from ovate-lanceolate and rarely 2—8-toothed to nearly linear and entire. Leaves 
digitate, all except the uppermost with 5 leaflets, glabrous and green above, white-tomen- 
tose beneath, rather coriaceous; leaflets obovate or cuneate, entire at the base, then 
deeply divided into narrow oblong or linear divisions which are acute and with revolute 
margins. Hypanthium tomentose, in fruit seldom over 5 mm. in diameter. Bractlets 
oblong, obtuse, nearly equalling the ovate acute mucronate or obtuse sepals. Petals 
obovate-cuneate, emarginate, scarcely exceeding the calyx. 
P. argentea is one of the easiest species to identify, by its small flowers, deeply dis- 
sected leaves, which are white-tomentose, especially beneath, and have revolute margins. 
It is a native of Europe and Asia, probably also of America. In this country it extends 
from Nova Scotia to the District of Columbia, Dakota and Kansas. 
