1 66 FLOWERS OF THE ROADSIDES AND HEDGES 



dwarf, trailing, or prostrate, rising at the tip, with numerous brownish 

 thick stems, which bear many inversely egg-shaped leaflets, in threes, 

 coarsely-toothed, and softly downy on the sides. From the Wild 

 Strawberry this plant differs in having no erect flower-stalks, and it 

 has generally smaller flowers, with distant (not overlapping) petals, 

 which are not notched as in the latter. 



The calyx is as long as the corolla, and the achenes are hairy on 

 the scar, and wrinkled transversely. The receptacle is not, as in the 

 Wild Strawberry, fleshy. 



The Barren Strawberry is not more than 6 in. in height. It is in 

 flower in March up to May. It is perennial, and reproduced by achenes, 

 which are numerous. 



It is an early-flowering plant, with many flowers, which are white 

 but inconspicuous. It is consequently not much visited by insects, 

 and is probably in the majority of cases self- pollinated. The honey 

 is secreted as a thin layer, and not in drops as in Fragaria, with which 

 otherwise it largely agrees. The anthers and stigma are ripe at the 

 same time. 



The fruit consists of a group of achenes, which are dispersed when 

 dry by falling away from the disk, and partly by the wind. 



Barren Strawberry is a sand-loving plant, and addicted to a sand 

 soil, flourishing also on barren stony ground, derived from granite 

 or older harder siliceous rock soils. 



Two fungi are liable to be found on the Barren Strawberry, Septoria 

 fragarice and Phragmidium fragariastri. 



A beetle, Galeruca tenella, frequents it, and a moth, Nepticula 

 arc uat a. 



Potentilla, Brunfels, is from the Latin potens, powerful, in allusion 

 to its powerful astringent nature, and the second Latin name refers 

 to its barren nature. 



This plant is called Barren Strawberry, Strawberry Plant. It was 

 assigned to St. Hilary. 



ESSENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: 



98. Potentilla sterilis, Garcke. Stem prostrate, leaves obovate, 

 ternate, serrate, silky, flowers white, petals as long as sepals, notched, 

 short. 



Dog Rose (Rosa canina, L.) 



The forms found in early deposits do not approach R. canina, but a 

 species with nearly round fruits. The present distribution is Europe, 

 N. Africa, Siberia, or part of the North Temperate Zone. The 



