36 FLOWERS OF THE FIELDS AND MEADOWS 



In Ireland they believed if Meadow-sweet was put in water on 

 St. John Baptist's Day it would reveal a thief, and if floating the thief 

 would be a woman, if sinking a man. Its fragrant flowers were con- 

 sidered to have medicinal virtues, and it was an ingredient of the 

 remedy "Save" referred to in the Knight's Tale: 



Eek save they drunken, for they wode here lymes have. 



ESSENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: 



93. Spircca Uluiaria, L. Stem tall, erect, herbaceous, leaflets 

 entire, terminal palmately lobecl, downy below, flowers white, in cyme, 

 numerous, fragrant. 



Cinquefoil (Potentilla reptans, L.) 



Unlike the Tormentil this plant has not been discovered in any 

 early deposits. Its distribution in the Northern Temperate Zone is 

 confined to Europe from Gothland southward, N. and W. Asia, 

 Himalayas, Canaries, Azores. In Great Britain it is a common plant, 

 but it is not found in Cardigan, S. Perth, Mid Perth, N. Aberdeen, 

 Elgin, Easterness, Main Argyle, Dumbarton, Clyde Islands, Ebudes, 

 and the whole of the N. Highlands, and Northern Isles, ranging thus 

 from Banff southward. It is a native in Ireland and the Channel 

 Islands. 



The common Yellow Cinquefoil is a familiar plant in the meadows 

 and fields when in bloom, covering some few feet with its golden 

 flowers and creeping stem. It is addicted to little knolls and banks, 

 and being fond of dry soil prefers high ground, spreading rapidly on 

 the hillside or open meadow. 



The common English name Cinquefoil describes the fivefold 

 arrangement of leaflets in this plant, and the second Latin name 

 describes its habit, creeping, the stem lying quite flat. It is usually 

 a larger plant than Tormentil, and the stem is slender, thread-like, 

 rooting at intervals. The leaves are larger, and are stalked, having 

 finger-like, toothed leaflets, blunt at the tip, with some small leaves in 

 the axils in pairs, and slightly hairy. 



The flowering stalks bear solitary flowers and are long, in the axils, 

 and half-erect, with large flowers, the sepals being alternately smaller, 

 the petals heart-shaped. The achenes or fruits are rough, the seeds 

 numerous. 



Cinquefoil being a plant which lies on the ground is never more 

 than 6 in. in height. It flowers freely in June and July. It is 

 perennial and propagated by runners. 



