W155 

 (leaf 2) 



ripened pistils, or fruit (achenes) are tipped for a while with an 

 often threadlike stalk (persistent style) swollen at the base and at- 

 tached near the top or somewhat to one side of the "seeds" ; the style 

 is eventually deciduous. Most cinquefoils are perennials, having 

 thick, woody taproots and much-branched root crowns ; a few species 

 are annuals or biennials, from slender fibrous taproots. Ordinarily, 

 the plants are erect, with simple or branched, leafy or almost leaf- 

 less, stems. A number are prostrate with runners (like strawberries) , 

 and others are even stemless, with only basal leaves from the root 

 crown. The leaves are the most variable character of the genus, 

 ranging from digitate, i. e., with the leaflets arranged like the fingers 

 of a hand, to finely pinnate, i. e., with the leaflets arranged in pairs 

 along a common axis (rachis). The leaves may be densely hairy on 

 either one or both sides, sparingly hairy or hairless, and the 3 to 27 

 leaflets may be entire, wavy, toothed or deeply cleft on the margins. 



Nuttall cinquefoil is deemed of sufficient importance to rate a sep- 

 arate treatment in this handbook. Three other species, representa- 

 tive of the range cinquefoils generally, merit the brief mention below. 



Biennial cinquefoil (P. bien'nis), a multi-branched, leafy biennial 

 (occasionally annual) herb, with several finely hairy, slender often 

 reddish or purplish stems from a taproot, grows from 8 to 20 inches 

 high. This species is probably the most common biennial cinquefoil 

 on the western ranges. The numerous, small, yellow flowers, which 

 arise from the axils of the upper leaves, produce a multiplicity of 

 small, smooth, whitish "seeds , which insure its perpetuation. The 

 strawberrylike or cloverlike leaves are green on both sides, with 

 three broad, slightly hairy leaflets toothed along the upper half. The 

 lower leaves have long stalks (petioles) ; the upper, or stem leaves, 

 are almost stalkless. This plant ranges from British Columbia to 

 southern Saskatchewan and southward to Colorado, Arizona, and 

 Lower California, growing commonly on both moist and rather dry 

 sites, although most characteristically on rich, moist, sandy, gravelly, 

 or clay loams. This species frequently inhabits waste places, and 

 is common both in the warmer valleys along ditch banks and in cool 

 moist sites. As a rule it occurs but scatteringly, although in a few 

 sites, especially near cultivated fields, biennial cinquefoil abounds 

 along creeks and irrigation ditches. It has little or no forage value, 

 being seldom grazed, except by sheep, which normally eat small quan- 

 tities of the foliage at rare intervals. On heavily grazed pastures, 

 these animals may be forced to utilize much of the herbage but, even 

 under such conditions they consume the plant only as a last resort. 



Slimstem cinquefoil (P. fi'lipes), a perennial herb ranging from 

 Alberta to Manitoba, northern New Mexico, and Utah, is one of the 

 most common and abundant cinquefoils throughout the Rocky Moun- 

 tain region. It grows typically in mountain meadows and parks, and 

 on slopes from the ponderosa pine zone up through the spruce -fir 

 belt, occurring up to as high as 12,000 feet in Colorado. This cinque- 

 foil grows most luxuriantly and abundantly in deep, sandy, or clay 

 loams, rich in humus, in association with mountain-dandelion, west- 



